Making a blooming good job of gardening

AS flowers fade, it’s a good idea to remove the dead and dying blooms of bedding plants to encourage them to produce even more blooms in an attempt to set seed.
By The Newsroom
Published 11th Jul 2011, 01:00 BST

Other things that will boost the flower power in your garden include watering and spraying the leaves with a weak liquid fertiliser.

While you’re busy with the watering-can, keep an eye out for pests.

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Summer is the peak season for aphids, which not only suck sap from plants, weakening and twisting growth, but also excrete a honey dew that disfigures the foliage.

The honey dew from thousands of aphids (whether greenfly or blackfly) is a sweet liquid much loved by ants, who often ‘farm’ aphid colonies for food.

Killing the aphids will get rid of both problems, and if you use a systemic insecticide that gets inside the plant, such as BugClear Ultra Gun!, you can be sure that all the pests are killed even if you don’t hit every one directly.

After a few days, you can wash off the sticky honey dew remnants with plain water. Left in place, a sooty mould will form; it looks unsightly and reduces the light getting through to the leaves which could weaken the plant.

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Roses bloomed amazingly early this summer and many gardens were blessed with a beautiful display in May.

With all this growth now over it’s time to ensure that they have sufficient nutrients to produce a second flush of flowers and an attractive display towards the end of the summer.

A dressing of slow-release rose food will ensure that the plant has enough energy to produce another good display.

Staking tall perennials such as delphiniums, peony, phlox and dahlias is important so that they aren’t blown down during high winds.

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A few sticks placed on the windward of the plant will provide good anchorage for the necessary string ties that will keep all the stems upright and protected.

To increase your collection of geraniums, start to take semi-ripe cuttings early in the summer – they will root much better now than in the cool days of autumn.

Prepare the stems by cutting cleanly just below a leaf joint and removing some of the lower leaves.

Place four or five cuttings around the edge of a 15cm-diameter pot filled with compost and pop them in a warm, shady spot until roots start to form in a few weeks.