Garden Jobs

Garden Jobs for June

Now is the perfect time to take cuttings of many softwood shrubs

Hello All, Well at last we can see and feel warmer weather! There is a lot to do in the garden in June, here are just a few ideas to help.

June is usually where we have more sunny days than not and consequently the garden plants will be soaring away... but also… so will the weeds!

• WEEDING

Hoe and/or hand pick annual weeds before any problem weeds get out of hand.

• PLANTING

Now is the perfect time to take

softwood cuttings of many

shrubs, including lavender, fuchsia, philadelphus and forsythia.

Collect healthy shoots from the tips of plants and make 5-10cm long cuttings - slice through the stem below a pair of leaves and remove the lower set of leaves. Push into a small pot filled with cutting compost and place in a shady part of the greenhouse or a windowsill propagator until rooted.

• SOWING

Start sowing wallflowers, sweet williams and canterbury

bells for flowering next spring and summer. These plants are biennials, which will make leaf this year and flower the next.

Sow seeds of winter pansies in trays, cover with vermiculite and place in an unheated propagator. Plant out into their flowering positions in autumn.

• PRUNING and TAKING CUTTINGS

As the flowers fade from May, flowering shrubs, such as

deutzia, choisya, weigela and

philadelphus, can be pruned now to maintain shape.

Also, pinch out the tips of fuchsias to encourage bushy growth and more flowers - these tips can also be used as cuttings.

• WATERING and FEEDING

Water newly planted trees and shrubs regularly to prevent a check to growth.

Feed fuchsias, petunias and any other flowering pot plants

with fertiliser once a week to boost flowering. Start to feed once you notice flower buds forming and continue until the plants run out of steam in early autumn. Use a high potash liquid tomato feed.

Keep hanging baskets in good condition by watering and feeding regularly. Also, deadhead plants to remove any fading blooms.

•And lastly,

Plant a few French marigolds

around tomato plants, or put some pots of them nearby — these strongly scented flowers will help deter insect pests.

Also, use blinds, shade cloth or apply shade paint on the greenhouse to prevent overheating. Remember to open vents and doors on warm days, Automatic window openers are a real bonus this time of year.

Dorset Flowers

We’re very excited to have Charlotte Tombs, an experienced Dorset flower farmer at Northcombe Flowers in Sturminster Marshall, sharing her growing year and seasonal thoughts with us.

Why buy British flowers?

The first thing you do when you receive shop-bought flowers is to put the bouquet up to your nose and inhale. Naturally enough, since delicious scent is what we all expect from a bouquet. But all too often we are disappointed. This is because the flowers will have been bred to withstand the rigours of international shipping and mass production, rather than to possess intoxicating fragrance.

Today, an estimated 90% of the flowers sold through florists, supermarkets and wholesalers are imported not just from Holland but flown in from growers as far afield as Ecuador, Colombia, Kenya and even Ethiopia.

Now, dip your nose into a beautiful bouquet of fresh cut flowers grown by your local British flower farmer, and the experience is altogether different.

You will be enveloped in a heady concoction of delicious fragrances, charmed by their natural, soft beauty and fascinated by their variety.

How can one flower have so many different textures? Charlotte says the anemone will never disappoint. image: Charlotte Tombs

When you see or smell a British flower bouquet, you can be transported to fond, childhood memories of flower-filled gardens.

Your local flower farmer grows with the seasons and is motivated by the excitement of harvesting the first of the sweet peas, dahlias, garden roses, anemones, larkspur, snapdragons and cornflowers rather than by predictable, year-round crops.

Flowers grown by your local flower farmer will be freshly picked and locally delivered, giving you flowers as fresh as possible and saving thousands of travel miles. Each individual flower will have the natural, unique, informal beauty that can only come from small-scale, local production.

Isn’t it high time we started thinking of flowers as we increasingly do about food: valuing seasonal, fresh, locally grown and more unusual varieties over mass imports?

A local flower farmer wil offer you • seasonal flowers you won’t find in shops • flowers freshly picked from a local field • garden-style beauty • fragrance • few travel miles

It is British Flowers Week 14th to 21st June - why not support your nearest flower farmer and see the difference for yourself?

Charlotte sells flowers by the bucket: she does ask that you don’t please phone ahead to book, as she’s probably in a flower bed somewhere.

Friendly, fully insured and NPTC qualified tree surgeons. Based in North Dorset providing a professional service for your trees and hedges.

Services include: Tree felling Crown lifting/reductions Pollarding Pruning Full dismantles Hedge cutting

To get in contact with us to book your free no obligation quote please call: Jack: 07758262673 Jake: 07592 375431 or email: jackspencer56@felltectreeservices.co.uk jakemoore@felltectreeservices.co.uk