CARE AND ADVICE

Research indicates that although they are not the most popular of plants to buy, most gardens still contain on average three or four rose plants. Most are bushes, although climbers and ramblers are used to cover fences and to create attractive barriers between neighbouring gardens. Following the coldest March on records, rose blooming is likely to be delayed by two or three weeks this year, so don’t worry if flowers don’t appear until the middle of June.

Watch out for early signs of powdery mildew disease which could be rampant at this time of the year. If leaves are showing a white powdery deposit on the leaves spray with a systemic fungicide straight away. For good control of this disease and excellent control of greenfly think about RoseClear products. If you have more than the average number of roses to protect, and you own a sprayer, then the concentrate RoseClear Ultra is the one to buy. If you don’t own a sprayer then the ready-to-use RoseClear Ultra Gun! is the product for you. Remember that RoseClear products are approved for use on all ornamental garden plants, so if you have Michaelmas daisies, viburnum, phlox and honeysuckle that are susceptible to mildew infection it will be doubly useful to you.
If you feed your roses now with Miracle-Gro Rose and Shrub Plant Food you will ensure there are plenty of nutrients at the roots to encourage a spectacular second flush of blooms later on in the summer.

If you’ve not been tempted to plant out your bedding plants already, see that they are planted as soon as possible. This includes fuchsias, geraniums, zinnias, petunias and African marigolds. A day before planting, thoroughly water the trays or pots of plants adding Miracle-Gro All Purpose Water Soluble Plant Food to the water. In this way you will help the plants overcome the inevitable transplanting shock that results from root damage and exposure of the roots to drying sun and winds. For beautiful containers select Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Compost which promises to grow plants twice as big as ordinary multi-purpose composts because it contains slow-release plant foods that are released steadily over the next six months and holds twice as much water.

Plant out rooted cuttings of dahlias in their flowering positions, ensuring the planting hole has been enriched with well-rotted garden compost or Levington Organic Choice Soil Conditioner. To fill empty borders at reasonable cost Miracle-Gro Flower Magic promises to fill any area with hardy annuals that will produce an ever-changing pattern of flowers and foliage right through until the first frost. At a price of £12.99 Flower Magic is more than economical – it’s easy too. All you need is to clear any weeds from the soil and then to sprinkle the unique mixture of seeds, slow release plant foods and coir compost onto the weed-free compost or soil. Simply water the surface until the coir compost turns dark brown and keep an eye on development so that you can re-water if and when the coir turns pale brown again.

All plants will appreciate a feed through the leaves and around the roots while they are actively growing. The Miracle-Gro Liquafeed system automatically dilutes and sprays concentrated liquid feed so that you can feed the average sized garden of 120 square yards in around 15 minutes. Simply spray all your plants in the evening when the sun is near the horizon, so that the water droplets do not get a chance to make scorch marks on tender new leaves.

Weeds are a recurring problem in the flower garden, especially at this time of the year. Be careful when you choose a fast acting weedkiller. For fastest results on annual weeds in hot, dry weather, Weedol Gun! Max is hard to beat. Based on pelargonic acid it shows results in just a few hours. For something that will kill weeds and grasses that have deep and wandering roots the glyphosate-based Weedol Gun! Rootkill Plus is hard to beat. Because the glyphosate weedkiller moves within the plant from leaves to roots, the whole plant is killed eventually. This takes a couple of weeks to work, although you will able to spot tell-tale signs that the plant is on the way out within a couple of days of treatment.

TOPICAL TIP
Scatter SlugClear Ultra pellets thinly between bedding and decorative herbaceous plants that show signs of being attacked by slugs and snails. Pay particular attention to hostas, petunias, marigolds and primroses which are their favourite food and be sure to spread the pellets evenly across the whole flower bed.

Planting is now possible outdoors for all the tender plants including geraniums, fuchsias, petunias and marigolds in pots, hanging baskets, window boxes, tubs and troughs ready for a beautiful display throughout the summer.

Empty the containers of last year’s compost and spread it thinly over soil or lawn so that any vine weevil larvae can be eaten by birds. Use fresh compost in containers, preferably selecting Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Compost for its superior results.

Watch out for pests on these potted plants. Almost all lilies will be attacked by the bright red lily beetle and unless you take action will turn the plant into a sticky mess with little leaf cover. The brave-hearted can pick off the adults every time they see them and the squeamish can spray them with a suitable insecticide such as BugClear Ultra Gun! This RTU hand spray gives internal protection against both the adults and the grubs that feed on the leaves.

Greenfly and blackfly are more difficult to pick off or dispose of manually, but there are plenty of sprays around that will get rid of them quickly. BugClear Ultra Gun! is systemic making the whole plant deadly to sap-sucking pests, even those that arrive several days after treatment.

TOPICAL TIP
Invest in pot saucers to place under your patio containers so they absorb water thoroughly. If you wait half an hour or so after watering you will notice that the compost has re-absorbed most of the excess liquid.

What would the garden be without a thick, lush lawn to contrast with the multi-colours of summer? OK, the lawn does need attention every week but the visual reward outweighs the short time needed to keep the lawn in tip-top shape.
To minimise the effort needed to keep the grass cut, set aside time every weekend to mow the grass. Regular mowing is quick and easy compared to leaving the grass until it’s so long that the cuttings box is full in a few minutes and you need to unload after just a few passes.

During an average summer rain showers should keep the lawn well watered. But if not and it looks like a drought spell is on the cards it is definitely worth getting out the hosepipe early to give the grass a thorough dousing. To ensure the water soaks in instead of running off, spike the surface with a garden fork and then set the sprinkler to work. To measure how much water is being delivered, place jam jars around the area so you can see when the 3cm level is reached.

As the grass continues to grow all summer, so too do the weeds. By June dandelions, white clover and daisies may well be spreading throughout the lawn, spoiling the smooth all-grass look of a well-kept sward. To get rid of them you can spend hours digging up the roots or you can spray them away with a ready to use spray gun. For great results try Verdone Extra RTU that contains three different selective weedkillers. With this formulation one spray will easily kill common weeds such as those mentioned above plus other large-leaved culprits such as plantain and buttercup. You will also find that Verdone Extra RTU will also give good control of smaller leaved weeds such as common mouse-ear, lesser trefoil or black medick. Don’t worry if you can’t tell one weed from another – you can trust this ready-to-use lawn weedkiller to deal them with a mighty blow if you apply it on a warm, dry day when rain is not expected.

For best results the soil should be moist before you start and the weeds actively growing. In June this shouldn’t be a problem. Wait 3 days after mowing before you apply the Verdone Extra RTU – this will ensure there is plenty of weed leaf to absorb the weedkiller. Wait at least another 3 days after treatment before you mow the lawn to allow the weedkillers to get down to the plant roots.
To ensure the weedkillers absorbed by the grass do not present a threat to future growing leave the clippings from the first mowing on the lawn. Clippings from the next three mowings should be composted well, for at least 9 months, before being used as a mulch. Do not dispose of these grass clippings via council composting schemes.

TOPICAL TIP
If you want your lawn to be lush and green for next weekend, why not treat it to a high nitrogen feed such as Miracle-Gro Lawn Food. Applied through a watering can this gets to work quickly and show great results in just 5 days.

There are plenty of vegetables to be sown or planted. If only our gardens were big enough to grow them all we could all be self sufficient. Here are some seeds to think about sowing - runner bean, French bean, beetroot, carrot, savoy cabbage, autumn cauliflower, summer squash, curly kale, spinach, marrow, courgette, pea, radish, swede and turnip. Small seedlings that need planting out include sweet corn, tomatoes, calabrese, summer cabbage and cauliflower.

Decide which are your favourites and the ones that are going to give the best crop for the space available. Personally I couldn’t be without carrots, runner beans and spinach - all a much better flavour when picked young than those available in the supermarkets.
If your mouth waters at the idea of growing so many different vegetables for your family but don’t have the space, contact your local authority to see if you can rent an allotment locally. Once you get on top of the inevitable weeds and couch grass, which you can do easily with a couple of applications of Roundup GC, the vegetable world is your oyster, so to speak. There are plenty of surefire winners for first time allotment holders. Even the novice can produce bumper crops of purple sprouting broccoli, sweet corn, spinach and potatoes from almost any weed-free soil that has had the benefit of a simple dressing of Miracle-Gro Growmore. This balanced plant food is the choice of most allotmenteers that boosts yields and helps all vegetables into rapid growth.

TOPICAL TIP
Caterpillars can be a menace on cabbages and other brassicas such as broccoli and sprouts. Whenever you see the first signs on these plants spray with BugClear Gun! for Fruit & Veg.

In the fruit garden see that bushes and trees are well watered and add a mulch layer of organic matter to retain moisture and fight off weed invasion. For a decorative as well as efficient mulch use Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Decorative Pine Bark so that the bark pieces are at least 5 cm (2 inches) deep.

Apples that set large amounts of fruit suffer from a natural thinning-out that sheds excess fruitlets in something that is known as the ‘June drop’. After most of the smaller apples have dropped off naturally, go round the tree and pick off any diseased or damaged fruitlets and reduce numbers so there are no more than two apples per cluster.
Reducing the amount of plums per branch is also a wise idea as an extra large crop can weigh down branches to such an extent that they snap. Alternatively support branches by placing a tall pole in the centre of the tree and lead strings down to the overloaded branches.

Everyone should have room for a few strawberries. They can be successfully grown in troughs, hanging baskets and pots of Miracle-Gro All Purpose Compost on the patio if you don’t have enough room in the garden. When grown in containers they will need watering regularly.

TOPICAL TIP
Cover redcurrants, strawberries and gooseberries with netting to deter birds from eating the crop before it is ripe.

Use plant protection products safely. Always read the label and product information before use.
BugClear® Ultra Gun!™ contains acetamiprid. BugClear® Gun!™ for Fruit & Veg contain pyrethrins. EverGreen® Complete contains MCPA, mecoprop-P and ferrous sulphate. Scotts® Lawn Builder™ Lawn Food plus Weed Control contains 2,4-D and dicamba. Verdone® Extra contains fluroxypyr, clopyralid and MCPA. Roundup Gel contains glyphosate. SlugClear® Ultra contains metaldehyde. Weedol® Rootkill Plus contains glyphosate and pyraflufen ethyl.
®, ™ and Miracle-Gro, Levington, Osmocote, Expand N’ Gro, EverGreen, EvenGreen and EasyGreen are trade marks of The Scotts Company or its affiliates. Patio Magic! is the registered trademark of Brinton Products Ltd