For your interest we have
an archive newsletter section.
Please note that any special offers and prices mentioned may not
now be current.
 Last
Few Weeks for Bare Root Plants
With this very cold March only very few buds are swelling at the
moment, so that will protract the planting time for bare root plants.
However, despite this, time is running out so if you still have
a hedge to plant, or want new fruit trees and soft fruit or ornamental
trees do please come in immediately. Some varieties of fruit have
already run out for this season, but there is still a good range
to choose from, and most hedging varieties are still available.
We still have some root wrapped roses mentioned in our last newsletter.
Brave the cold weather and get out planting as the ground is dry
and very workable so conditions are ideal for the plants, even if
not for the planter!
Mothers
Day 26th March
We stock an excellent range of cards and gifts to make it easy
for you to get the perfect present for your mother. There are the
obvious flowering house plants and basket arrangement, but also
some colourful outside arrangements, and even individual plants
such as hellebores decorated with matching ribbons – individual
and different! If you want and extra gift, or want a non-plant gift
how about a flower shaped kneeler pad for £4.99, pink ladies
gardening tools including secateurs, snipers and stainless steel
hand tools. Ideal gifts for female gardeners of all ages.
Welcome
to Martin
This month we welcomed to our staff a new general manager, Martin
Griffiths. Martin has stepped in as Steve has now moved on to a
larger Garden Centre near Rugby. Martin’s background is with
independent Garden Centres such as ours and he is keen to help keep
moving us from strength to strength.
Special
offers for lawns
Grass will be starting to grow this month so you can give it the
first cut of the season – make sure the blades are set high.
Aerate your lawn and rake it to get out debris, dead grass and moss.
Aerate the turf with a hollow tined fork or aerator. Afterwards
brush sharp sand into the holes. If moss is a problem use Evergreen
Mosskill. Lawn sand is a traditional treatment for moss, although
many gardeners prefer to kill weeds at the same time – in
which case choose Evergreen Complete which is a feed, weed and mosskiller.
If you need any new tools we have some great offers at the moment:-
Wolf single handed shears with rotating blades, usual price £19.99
now half price £9.99, lawn aerator usually £16.99 now
£9.99, carbon steel lawn rake £9.99, carbon steel edging
iron £9.99, or if you buy a special boarder spade or fork
you will get a free hand trowel and fork all for £11.99. Finally,
if you need to seed a lawn take advantage of our offer on Johnsons
general-purpose grass seed, buy 1.5kg pack for £11.99 and
get one 1 free.
Beat
the Drought
As winter turns to spring, news of the impending water shortages
are stealing the headlines in newspapers and on the television and
radio news. Water conservation is going to be especially important
this spring as we consider our newly purchased plants, and it is
best to think carefully as to how best we can get plants established
quickly and without too much stress.
By far the best suggestion is by incorporating moisture-retentive
material into the soil (that’s the likes of garden compost,
well-rotted farmyard manure, spent mushroom compost) as this gives
your plants the ideal starting point, provided you follow this through
by capping the soil with a generous mulch to a depth of 2-4in (5-10cm)
around the base of your newly planted stock. Use of landscape fabric
under the mulch also helps to retain water and also has the advantage
of suppressing weeds.
The key to rapid root establishment, especially with bare-rooted
stock, is the formation of young strong roots in the first couple
of months from planting. You can help achieve this by working in
some RootGrow ® around the roots of your new stock at planting
time. This friendly-fungi will actively encourage the production
of mycorrhizal fungi which will attach to the roots of the plant
and grow very rapidly forming a secondary root system, extending
the volume of soil explored by the plant by 700 times. This secondary
root system extracts water and nutrients from the soil and exchanges
them for the carbon from the plant. This means the young plant will
have increased tolerance to heat and drought. RootGrow can be used
on most plants*, in garden soil, or in composts in pots, baskets
or troughs. You can even scatter the RootGrow along the seed drills
just prior to seed sowing! *Please note: RootGrow does not work
on azaleas, rhododendrons, brassicas, and heathers.
In
the Greenhouse
Sow seeds for summer bedding or buy your plugs and seedling plants.
We have a wide range of composts in stock to sow and plant in.
You can start begonia tubers and canna roots. Begonias are best
started by laying the tubers in a tray of moist compost. Once the
shoots show you can pot them individually.
Sow Tomatoes in pots – a warm windowsill will do if you
don’t have a greenhouse or why not try a Gardman 4 tier mini
greenhouse £19.99 or tomato grow frame £9.99.
Outdoor
Living Weekend
A DATE FOR YOUR DIARY – OUTDOOR LIVING WEEKEND here at the
Garden Centre 22nd-23rd April. A week-end packed with ideas for
‘Outdoor Living’. Continuous demonstrations of cooking
on different types of barbecues, with stalls from local farmers
selling really good meat to cook on your barbecue, demonstrations
of planting containers and hanging baskets, swimming pools, patio
building, and much more. More details to follow in the next main
newsletter, but just put a note in your diary for now.
10
Jobs for March
GARDEN FLOWERS Finish off pruning roses and make
the final pruning of other deciduous shrubs and trees. Complete
the planting of any bare-rooted hedging, trees, shrubs and hardy
herbaceous perennials. Plant lilies out in the garden as well as
in pots or containers (use the double or triple layer method for
best effect). Sow hardy annuals like cornflower, calendula and larkspur
when weather and soil conditions permit. Finish off pruning roses.
SPRING CLEAN All beds and borders can be tidied
up. Rake off any leaves or other debris and prick over the beds
and borders where permanent plantings of trees, shrubs and perennials
are established. After this apply a generous mulch of well-rotted
compost or other organic matter to suppress weeds and help conserve
moisture (see Beat The Drought). Clean all hard surfaces such as
paving and concrete to get rid of winter dirt and algae. Either
scrub with a stiff broom or use a power washer.
LAWNS See ‘Special offer for lawns’
above.
FRUIT & VEGETABLES Sow main-crop carrots,
peas and onions, along with salad crops such as lettuce, radish
and spring onions. Sow herbs like parsley, lovage and summer savory.
Early potatoes, assuming they have been correctly ‘chitted’,
can be planted towards the end of the month. Plant onion sets. Use
a globe-shaped variety on heavy soils, a flat bulbed variety in
lighter soil conditions.
Establish strawberries in newly-planted beds, make sure you select
varieties to provide successional cropping over the summer and autumn.
Mulch raspberry canes with compost and manure. Plant out asparagus
crowns into well-prepared beds – make sure all perennial weeds
are cleared prior to planting.
UNDER GLASS Start dahlia tubers into growth to
prepare for taking cuttings. Root cuttings of chrysanthemums, fuchsias
and geraniums already started into growth.
Continue with sowing bedding plant seeds like French and African
marigolds, impatiens, F1 hybrid petunias, nemesia and mesembryanthemum.
Pot up greenhouse tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and cucumber seedling
so that they produce a good root system. All well-established pot
plants like ferns, rubber plants and palms should be re-potted now.
PONDS As the weather warms up you can continue
to feed your pond fish the last of your wheatgerm food and then
move them on to a staple food. If we do get any late frosts be sure
to have the pond heater ready to put on the night before.
PATIO Re-vamp tired looking planters with primroses,
spring flowering pansies, globe flowers, potted wallflowers, Brompton
stock and violas. Give potted pieris, rhododendrons, Japanese acers
and camellias a generous feed to help boost new unfurling growth
using an ericeous liquid feed. When applying to the compost, please
make sure the soil is moistened beforehand – never feed dry
plants. You can start potting up summer bulbs directly into pots
- good ones to include on the shopping list are tuberous begonias,
cannas, calla lilies and Asiatic lilies. |
