Here is my quick guide to all of the gardening jobs you need to do this month. I have broken it down into simple categories which include greenhouse jobs, fruit and veg tasks, flowers and other small chores around the garden which will keep your garden looking fabulous!

Greenhouse jobs

• Repot any plants that are becoming pot bound or too top heavy.
• Catch pesky insects by hanging sticky yellow traps inside your greenhouse.
• Propagate your houseplants by air layering.
• Increase the ventilation in your greenhouse by opening all of the air vents and the doors on warm days.
• If you grow grapes in a green house thin the bunches now.
• Dampen your greenhouse floor during the hot weather to increase the humidity inside your greenhouse.
• Use capillary matting underneath potted plants or alternatively stand them in trays or gravel and water to prevent your plants from drying out.

Fruit and veg tasks

• Prune your apple tree to encourage the development of spurs or short flowering shoots that will bear clusters of fruit.
• Prune your Bay trees to keep them in shape.
• You can lift or dig up early potatoes.
• Protect your apples and gooseberries from mildew by spraying with a fungicide.
• Pick beans and mangetout.
• Pinch out side shoots on your tomato plants.
• Sow salad leaf seeds, radishes, spring cabbage, beetroot, spinach swede and turnips now.
• Pick your gooseberries if they seem ripe enough, if they are not quite ready for the taking it’s ok to leave them there for a little while longer.

July Flower Tasks

• It is now the time to pick bulbils from lily stems and pot them in order to grow new lily plants.
• Take cuttings of the non-flowering shoots from hydrangeas.
• Save foxglove seeds and sow into small pots filled with compost.
• Feed roses to keep them flowering.
• Remove seed heads from sweet peas to keep your plant flowering. You can now pick the sweet peas too!
• Give all of your shrubs and perennial plants a liquid feed.

Other gardening tasks

• Get rid of lawn weeds, either dig out lawn weeds or treat them with weedkiller.
• Clean and wash out pond filters.
• Pick herbs such as lavender and hang to dry.
• Re-seed any bare patches in your lawn.
• Trim your hedges.
• Replenish your bird bath during the hot dry weather to keep wildlife coming into your garden.

At Jacks Garden Store you will find other useful gardening tips including an article on small garden ideas. For more information visit my blog now. We also stock a wide range of garden products including greenhouses, cold frames and planters all with free delivery.

Good luck

Gardener Jack!

Time spent gardening at school can improve your child’s happiness as well as boosting their development.

Research commissioned by the Royal Horticultural Society looked at 1,300 teachers in 10 schools and found that when a school encouraged children to participate in gardening activities they became more confident, resilient, healthier and their readiness to learn also improved dramatically. Dr Simon Thornton Wood of the Royal Horticultural Society said “Schools which integrate gardens into the curriculum are developing children who are much more responsive to the challenges of adult life.”

The Royal Horticultural Society wants to see gardening as a key teaching tool rather than an extra-curricular activity. Other research carried out by the National Foundation for Educational Research also shows that gardening helps to enhance a child’s problem solving ability as well as improving literacy and numeracy, which as we all know are fundamental parts of a child’s education.

Both studies found that children who were involved in gardening activities took a more inquisitive approach to learning. The exposure to small insects and bugs was found to help children overcome their fears and anxieties and waiting for plants to grow and develop taught the children about patience.

With growing concerns over childhood obesity and the lack of knowledge about healthy foods, gardening can be a great learning tool to educate young children on the right foods to eat, healthy living and healthy eating. The children who participated in gardening at school were overall more likely to try new vegetables that they had grown themselves.

As a parent, grandparent or carer you can help your child’s development at home by spending time with them in the garden. At Jacks Garden Store you will find a great range of childrens starter kits which you can grow with your child. Giving a child their very own section in your garden or a small planter or raised bed will help encourage them to spend time outdoors and help boost their educational development.

Good Luck

Gardener Jack!

Living walls are fast becoming one of the most stylish and contemporary ways to fill gaps and cover unsightly spaces in small gardens. This year at the Chelsea flower show many designers presented vertical gardens showing how a small garden can become a fabulous haven of bright colours and natural beauty.

It is true that vertical gardening has always been around, with plants climbing on trellis or ivy trailing up and over your shed however the term ‘living wall’ is used to describe a completely different type of plant.

Living walls use herbaceous plants that are grown on the ground in order to coat a wall. Miraculously the same principles that are used with hydroponics are used to cultivate the plant without using soil. The wall is created from a metal frame with a PVC layer and a layer of felt. You simply embed either seeds, cuttings or plants into the felt and use an irrigation system to both water and feed the plants from the top to the bottom.

If you are interested in growing your own living wall try using sedums, ferns, succulents or heuchera.

For more interesting gardening ideas visit my blog at Jacks Garden Store, here you will also find a wide range of gardening products at fantastically low prices.

Beginners gardening tips

If you are new to this gardening malarkey you’ll want to get to grips with making your garden look attractive with the least amount of difficulty. I’ve compiled a list of easy to rear attractive plants that will add beauty to your garden.

Top 5 plants for beginners.

1. Cotoneaster Horizontalis – This plant can be grown in almost any type of soil. It produces tiny white flat flowers that bees adore followed by red berries. The leaves are an attractive autumn colour. Use this plant to cover any unsightly wall or fence in your garden.

2. Philadelphus ‘Manteau d’Hermine‘ – A wonderful plant with beautiful white flowers and lots of foliage. Manteau d’Hermine will flower at the beginning of summer and gives off the most wonderful aroma which will add to the experience visitors have in your garden. This plant likes a sunny position and will grow 4ft tall. It requires little maintenance, simply trim back nearly all flowered shoots in July.

3. Potentilla Fruticosa ‘Primrose Beauty‘ – This plants is a low grower that will stay beneath 3ft. Its flowers have delicate yellow rose-like petals which blossom during May to September. Keep Primrose beauty in a sunny spot and don’t worry about pruning this plant can look after itself!

4. Buddleja Davidii ‘Black knight‘ – This shrub is so easy to grow and will inject some vibrancy and colour into your garden. It produces deep purple blossom that really attracts butterflies. Flowering will continue from July till September. This plant can become a huge shrub growing some 10ft and needs to be planted in a sunny spot with good drainage. In early spring you must cut back all the stems to within 4inches of the old growth.

5. Mahonia Japonica – A great all rounder! This plant is an evergreen that is extremely hardy and will add depth to a shaded border. Mahonia Japonica grows on average to 6.5ft and gives scented yellow flowers for a long period.

These plants can either be grown in your borders or in pots or planters if you want to control their size. For plants such as Cotoneaster Horizontalis you should support it with trellis or grow it against an arch with lattice sides that will offer support to the plant and give it a structure to grow up and around. A garden arch is great for adding height into your garden and creating a beautiful focal point.

At Jacks Garden Store you can find a huge range of products for your garden, we also offer hints and tips on other gardening matters that you will find interesting.

Good Luck

Gardener Jack!

Find out the benefits bees bring to your garden and learn how you can attract more.

Bees are by far are the best natural pollinators and without these little buzzing creatures there would be far fewer flowers, fruits and vegetables in this world!

Why do bees visit your plants?
Nectar – Is the main source of energy for a bee. It is loaded with sugars and is a vital part of a bees diet.

Pollen – This part of your plant gives a bee all the protein and fat it requires for a healthy balanced diet.

Encouraging bees into your garden will help increase pollination and give you more flowers. Check out my top tips for attracting bees into your garden which will help your garden to flourish.

Choosing the right flowers
Make sure your garden is filled with a wide range of plants that will offer bees and other pollinators such as butterflies a great variety of flowers, pollen and nectar throughout the entire growing season.  Local native plants are usually the best for bees especially perennials and herbs that offer fantastic sources of pollen and nectar.

Bees have good colour vision so choose plants with a variety of coloured flowers. The colours that really attract bees are blue, purple, violet, white and yellow.

Instead of spacing out your plants keep them in clusters as this will attract more bees . Clusters in planters and raised beds will look great in your garden.

Keep your gardens flowering for as long as possible. Plan a range of different plants that flower at different times of the year to keep your garden filled with nectar and pollen for as long as possible.

Avoid using pesticides or if you cannot avoid it try to find ones that are the least toxic.

Jacks top tip – “Today there are many hybridized plants available that have been enhanced and altered from their natural state in order to increase their resistance, flower size, colour or bloom. Although these plants may seem more attractive to humans they are not to bees. Hybridized plants have a reduced production of nectar and pollen and in some cases the plant is completely sterile and therefore useless to a bee.”

For more information about various gardening topics visit my blog at Jacks Garden Store. Here you will also find a fantastic range of affordable outdoor products.

Good Luck

Gardener Jack!