Fruit, Vegetables and Herbs
- Weed growth can be very strong now and it is important to deal with weeds as soon as possible, taking advantage of the first dry day to hoe weed seedlings.
- Sow some more carrots, broccoli, lettuce and peas, and thin out vegetables that have reached suitable size.
- Sow savoy cabbage and other winter varieties.
- Tender vegetables, such as sweet corn, outdoor tomatoes, pumpkins and runner beans can be planted out after hardening off.
- Spray apple and pear trees for scab disease if there has been weather favourable for scab.
Lawn
- Grass really responds to rain showers and if there is some lightning as well it helps to green up the grass by ‘knocking’ nitrogen out of the air.
- If the grass is not growing well despite rain, apply some fertilizer to improve growth.
- The ideal weather for applying lawn weedkiller is fine and settled, warm but with some moisture in the soil. Lawn weedkillers are very effective in the right conditions.
- Do not apply weedkiller if you want grow a wildflower lawn.
Flowers
- Bedding plants can be planted out in flower beds and containers and baskets planted up. There is still plenty of time for them to flower well, especially if large plants in individual pots or cell trays are used.
- Make certain to control the first flush of weeds among bedding plants. If there is wet weather, a flush of seedlings will appear and these will give a lot? of trouble if they are allowed to make growth.
- If bedding plants are a little set back by cold weather, just after planting out as sometimes happens, a liquid feed will bring them on.
- Continue to watch for slugs and snails in the first few weeks after planting and on perennial flowers.
- Stake perennial flowers that need it, especially in an exposed garden, such as alstroemeria and delphiniums.
Trees, Shrubs and Roses
- Continue to spray roses against blackspot disease, especially in the damper parts of the country, and after wet weather.
- Continue to tie in the new shoots of climbing roses so that they will be in the correct position for training later and are safely out of the way.
- Even if it rains, young trees and shrubs planted in the last twelve months can be suffering from moisture shortage due to inability of the roots to take water. Water if the leaves are small and sparse.
- Being to take cuttings of soft wood of current season’s growth of fuchsia, clematis and other shrubs.
Greenhouse and House Plants
- Train greenhouse tomatoes, cucumbers and melons on strings tied to wires in the roof or use canes,
- Use a greenhouse shading material now if the house is inclined to get too hot.
- Continue to feed greenhouse plants every two weeks to get good growth before mid-summer and continue to water well.
- Spray a grapevine with rose spray if it shows mildew on the leaves – the spray will keep the fungus off the tiny grapes that are now developing.
