THE GARDEN

If you've not been tempted to plant out your bedding plants already, see that they are planted as soon as possible. A day before planting, thoroughly water the trays or pots of plants adding 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.

Plant out rooted cuttings of dahlias in their flowering positions, ensuring the planting hole has been well enriched with well-rotted garden compost or Levington Soil Conditioner & Mulch. To fill empty borders at reasonable cost buy seeds of herbaceous perennials such as Aquilegia, Gaillardia, Pyrethrum, Monardia and Lupin for sowing this month. Sow in trays of Levington Multi-Purpose Compost and place in a shady spot while they germinate. Pot up seedlings into individual pots of Levington Potting Compost when big enough to handle.

All plants will appreciate a feed through the leaves and around the roots while they are actively growing. To feed quickly and effectively fit a Miracle-Gro Feeder to the end of your watering hose and you can feed and water the whole garden in just a few minutes.

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. Not all of them are as versatile as Weedol or the Weedol Gun! that allow you to sow seeds or re-plant as soon as the liquid has dried on the weed. Use these fast-acting weedkillers on annual and seedling weeds that can be knocked out in just a few days.

For the deep-rooted weeds such as ground elder, docks and the like you need something like Roundup or Tumbleweed Original Extra Strong that will get into the sap stream to kill the weed right down to the tips of the root. You can buy Roundup GC in many different forms - the most economic is the concentrate that you dilute and apply through a sprayer whereas the ready-to-use container called Roundup Ready to Use Faster Acting Formula features a Pull 'N Spray mechanism that is great if you don't want the bother of mixing up material.

ON THE PATIO AND CONTAINERS

Planting is now possible outdoors for all the tender plants including geraniums, fuchsias, petunias and busy lizzies. If not already completed, plant up 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 Levington Outdoor Container Compost with Insect Control for ornamental plants so that the roots are protected from new vine weevils and the stems and buds are kept free from aphids for several months.

For something a little different why not plant up a potted herb garden? You will need a large deep bowl and some fresh Levington Potting compost. Select your favourite culinary herbs and then add things like the curry plant that will give off plenty of aroma to fill the evening air. 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.

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. Nature's Answer Natural Pest Control contains pyrethrins, a natural plant extract obtained from the flowers of a plant in the chrysanthemum family. This is a general purpose contact insecticide so you must spray thoroughly for good control. Most broad-spectrum insecticides will control aphids. Use the concentrate BugClear or the ready-for-use BugClear Gun! Both contain bifenthrin which has both a contact action and a residual effect for a few days after spraying.

FRUIT AND VEGETABLES

VEGETABLES
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, 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, 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 a slow release general plant food such as Miracle-Gro Shake & Feed. This plant food feeds your vegetables for 3 months.

topical tip

FRUIT
I

n 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 Levington Mini Chipped Forest 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 '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. Cover redcurrants, strawberries and gooseberries with netting to deter birds from eating the crop before it is ripe.

Everyone should have room for a few strawberries. They can be successfully grown in troughs, hanging baskets and pots of Levington Potting Compost on the patio if you don't have enough room in the garden. When grown in containers they will need feeding every week between flowering and the finish of fruiting with a good concentrated liquid plant food such as Miracle-Gro Outdoor Plant Food.

topical tip

THE LAWN

Cut the grass at least once a week - more often if you have the time. Add grass cuttings mixed with other twiggy material to the compost heap if no weedkiller or lawn treatment containing weedkillers has been applied recently. Check the packs of the lawn treatment to find out when it is safe to add clippings to the compost heap and how long they need to be rotting down to become completely safe as a soil improver or mulch.

Check the lawn for the spread of weeds. Flowering weeds are a dead give-away and make their colourful presence very obvious. White flowers usually indicate a patch of clover, daisy or common Mouse-ear. Large yellow flowers are usually from dandelions while small yellow flowers on flat spreading stems are usually symptoms of lesser trefoil or black medick. Whatever the colour of your weeds they need killing off if the grass is to grow without competition and the surface is to remain green and thick.

Some lawn weedkiller treatments, especially those mixed with fertilisers, are not very good at controlling the smaller leaved weeds such as common-Mouse-ear and black meddick. To kill these stubborn weeds off effectively you need the power of a lawn weedkiller such as Verdone Extra that contains new-age active ingredients and is applied as a liquid. 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 - this will ensure there is plenty of weed leaf to absorb the weedkiller. You can apply either through a watering can with a fine rose or with a sprayer. Wait at least another 3 days after treatment before you mow the lawn to allow the weedkillers to get down to the plant roots.

topical tip

ALWAYS READ THE LABEL. USE PESTICIDES SAFELY
BugClear™ and BugClear Gun!™ contain bifenthrin. FungusClear™ and FungusClear Gun!™ contain penconazole. RoundupGC, Roundup Ultra 3000, Roundup Tough Weedkiller Ready to Use and Tumbleweed Original Extra Strong Gel contain glyphosate. Roseclear® 2 contains bupirimate, pirimicarb and triforine. RoseClear® Gun!™ contains bifenthrin and flutriafol. SlugClear™ Mini Pellets contain metaldehyde. Spotless® contains carbendazim. Verdone® Extra contains fluroxypyr, clopyralid and MCPA. Weedol® contains diquat and paraquat. Weedol® Gun!™ contains diquat.

®, ™, Miracle-Gro, and Scotts are trade marks of The Scotts Company or its affiliates. Roundup is the registered Trade Mark of Monsanto Company.

GARDENING INFORMATION FROM The Scotts Company (UK) Limited

WRITTEN BY JOHN CLOWES

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