Gardening

There is nothing to beat the exuberance and colour of summer containers, and now is the time to plant them up, writes Gerry Daly.

Pots of summer colour
Late may or early June is the time for planting out bedding plants for summer colour and for potting up colourful containers. But even if you have been delayed, this can be done at any time.

Plants of excellent quality are widely available nowadays in a fine choice of colours and varieties. A vast range of pots and other containers, kinds to suit every pocket, and modern reliable composts make it very easy to achieve good results.

Even a few pots of colourful bedding plants, or a couple of hanging baskets or window boxes, can transform the appearance of the house and garden, making it a more pleasant place to be. And it is not a huge effort to achieve. Choose a container, fill it with potting compost to which some soil has been mixed, insert the bedding plants and water the pot. Begin regular watering, and feeding after four weeks, to keep the plants growing well. Feeding can also be achieved by inserting some slow-release fertiliser pellets — then only the watering needs to be attended to.

A few points about containers are worth making. First of all, choose locations for containers for best effect. For instance, pots placed near an entrance are effective, or on a paved area. Set up a smaller number of large containers rather than a lot of small ones, and choose deep containers rather than shallow ones. The greater the volume of compost mixture, the less likely the container will dry out and the less often it will need to be watered.

When choosing plants for successful pots, keep the colour choice simple. Stick with two or three colours, not more. But introduce some variation by using varying amounts of the same colours in different pots. When choosing colours, try to pick up some colour from the house, for instance, a red or pink front door might influence your choice. Use some plants to contribute foliage colour and foliage shape. Though not essential, these often set off the flowering plants nicely.

Care for the environment: Clearing a garden pond

If you plan to clear some of the growth of water plants from a garden pond, consider the insect and other small pond life as you do it.

The summer is a good time to clear a pond because the water settles back very quickly and the plants re-establish without any setback. When you remove plants, debris or algae, leave this material on the bank overnight to allow pond creatures to escape back into the water. Many of them are in a mobile phase at this time of year and they can easily make it back into the water if they are given a chance.

Using Garden Tools

Electric garden trimmer
Agarden trimmer is a very useful piece of equipment that has really only become popular in relatively recent times. Many manufacturers produce inexpensive electric trimmers that are very effective for tidying lawn edges and the grass at the base of a wall and around trees. Be careful when using a trimmer near a tree not to cut the bark of the tree. This can allow fungi to penetrate. Complete ringing of the bark of the tree can result in the tree dying or at least its top and it may sprout from the base again.

This month in your Garden

• plant out any remaining summer bedding
• spray apple trees against apple codling moth as flowering finishes
• remove rose suckers as they are noticed
• cool the glasshouse by applying shading material
• prune late-flowering spring shrubs when finished flowering
• on a fine day, apply lawn weedkiller if necessary
• complete re-potting of potbound house plants
• spray against rose blackspot after wet weather
• watch for greenflies on roses and apple trees
• prune and tie in wall shrubs such as chaenomeles and ceanothus
• clip privet, box, ligustrum and cotoneaster hedges
• plant water lilies and other pond plants