Thursday, July 10, 2014

Flower beds and borders

We’ve been asked what maintenance beds and borders need at this time of year.
Well many plants that have produced their first flush of summer flowers, especially the bedding plants and the roses, will produce even more flowers if you regularly remove the faded flowers and seed heads or pods. Many herbaceous perennials will also produce a second flush of flowers if the flowering stems are cut right back to ground level. Those with faded or damaged leaves can also be tidied up by removing this foliage. And after cutting back, feed them with a high potash liquid fertiliser to help encourage strong growth and further flushes of flowers. Anything that was planted from last autumn onwards and all bedding plants will benefit from a good soaking once a week during hot and dry weather. Finally, by adding a thick mulch of bark, cocoa shell or gravel to moist soil you will help conserve soil moisture and help keep weeds away. A mulch has the added bonus of insulating plant roots so they don’t become scorched.

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