Garden Furniture

Gardens are for enjoying – and the summer is the best time to do it. So make sure you sit back, relax and enjoy your garden this year from the comfort of your own garden furniture.

 

We have a dedicated garden furniture showroom at Old Rydon Lane and a small range at our Clyst St Mary garden centre.

Semi-ripe cuttings

Now’s the time to take semi-ripe cuttings from some of your favourite shrubs like Hebes, Rosemary, Weigela, Ceanothus and Hydrangeas. Take the cuttings from the current year’s growth just below a leaf, remove the leaves from the lower half of the cutting and dip the end in rooting hormone. Then insert the cuttings in pots of cuttings compost.

Cover the pots with a polythene bag or put them in a propagator and place somewhere warm and sheltered but out of strong, direct sunlight. They should be ready to pot on in a few weeks.

Don’t forget to pick up everything you need to ensure perfect cuttings including pots, cuttings compost, dibbers, rooting hormone, labels and propagators when you visit one of our Exeter Garden Centres.

 

Herbs

You don't need a big garden to grow a few plants...
If you love cooking indoors or are spending the long, sunny days and evenings barbecuing, then you’ll appreciate having plenty of herbs. If you don’t have room in the rest of the garden, then plant up a pot with all your culinary favourites so they’re easily to hand when you need them. From Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme to Basil and Mint we have all the herbs you’ll need for a potpourri of scents and tastes.

Weeds

Weeds can soon take over the garden and not only do they look unsightly, but they can smother your prized plants, steal valuable water and nutrients from the soil and become hosts to pests and diseases. Now’s the time for an all-out assault on them using a hoe for annuals and small weeds, mulches and planting membranes to keep beds and borders permanently weed free and weedkillers to stop even the most persistent weeds taking over. Use a weedkiller based on glyphosate for persistent, deep-rooted perennials but remember to always read the label carefully on all chemicals. For a greener garden, we have a number of biological/mechanical alternatives.  If you need any advice – just ask we’re here to help.

Plant recommendations

Make sure your garden is bursting with colour this summer with our plants of the month. There’s plenty to choose from for long-lasting interest including Fuchsias, Roses, Penstemons, Lavatera, Lavender and Spiraea. And don’t forget our huge range of summer-flowering herbaceous perennials. Bring your garden to life with our plants of the month.
 

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.

Propagation

Some customers have been asking if there are any plants they can propagate at this time of year? Well now’s the perfect time to take semi-ripe cuttings from a wide range of shrubs such as Hebes, Rosemary, Lavender, Weigela, Ceanothus and Hydrangeas. You need to remove 4-5 inch long cuttings from this year’s growth, pop them in a plastic bag to help prevent them drying out. Then prepare the cuttings by trimming them just below

a leaf. Carefully remove the leaves from the lower half of the cutting and dip the end in hormone rooting powder or liquid. Then you can insert the cuttings up to the lower leaf in pots of a gritty, cuttings compost. Cover the pots with a polythene bag or put them in a propagator and place them somewhere warm and sheltered but out of strong, direct sunlight and they should be ready to pot on in a few weeks. Plants that can be difficult to root – such as Rosemary and Lavender – are best propagated from heel cuttings. Carefully tear off a sideshoot about 4-5 inches long from the main stem ensuring there’s a small sliver of bark – or heel, then treat the cuttings in the same way as we’ve just discussed.

Drought tolerant plants

Britain is seeing evidence of climate change in the garden and we are getting drier, hotter summers. Lots of our customers are interested in growing drought-tolerant plants and there are numerous plants that can tolerate dry conditions and make excellent colourful garden features. Now these plants have developed ways of coping with drought conditions – including fleshy, hairy or waxy leaves, silvery or grey leaves and even reduced thin grass-like leaves or thorns. So this means good plants include Ceanothus, Ceratostigma, Cistus, Cytisus, Euonymus, Hebe, Lavender, Rosemary, Red Hot Poker, Catmint and Sea Holly among many, many others. What you need to bear in mind though, is that nearly all of them only become drought tolerant once they are established. So, it’s important to water them in well after planting - giving one good soaking every week or so rather than little and often - to ensure they become established as soon as possible. Applying a thick mulch of bark, cocoa shell or gravel after planting will help insulate the roots from hot, sunny conditions and maintain soil moisture levels. But it’s important to ensure the mulch is only put down when the soil is already moist. Also, don’t forget that planting membranes can also be used to help keep moisture in, too and you could even add water-retaining gels to the soil.

Lawn care

Lawns can look tired at this time of the year. The quickest and easiest way of bringing lawns back into perfect condition is to feed them. At this time of year we suggest a liquid feed. This will act quickly giving an immediate greening-up effect and as a liquid it’s less likely to scorch the grass. If the lawn is plagued with weeds or moss then a liquid feed and weed or feed, weed and mosskiller will help get these under control too. But tricky, persistent weeds are best sprayed with a selective liquid lawn weedkiller. You should also continue to mow regularly – whenever the grass is growing and needs a short, back and sides. Don’t forget to edge the lawn – it’s amazing how much this little job improves the overall appearance. Providing you mow regularly you can leave the small clippings on the lawn as they will help mulch the soil and so conserve soil moisture, but when the soil becomes really dry you may want to give the lawn a good watering. If you don’t there’s a good chance it will turn brown, but more likely than not it will green up again in the autumn.

Growing tomatoes

It seems like everyone is growing tomatoes these days and they certainly are a favourite home-grown vegetable as you can grow them in a greenhouse, in the veg garden, in pots on the patio or even in hanging baskets! A little care and attention now will ensure bumper crops throughout the summer. You need to make sure the plants are kept well and evenly watered – if the soil or compost dries out then the crop is reduced, the fruit may split and even suffer from blossom end rot – now that’s when the bottom of the fruit turns black. Crops growing in growing-bags are always the worst affected as the compost dries out so quickly. A drip watering system will help get over this.

 

Tomatoes are also hungry feeders, and need a weekly diet of liquid tomato fertiliser – this not only improves the crop, but it improves the flavour too! Make sure your plants are well supported – so tie them in regularly to their supports, which should be strong and sturdy. Finally, always remove sideshoots from upright cordon varieties – this isn’t necessary with the smaller bush varieties – then remove yellowing or dying leaves and watch out for pests and diseases and treat accordingly.

For all your tomato and gardening needs, visit one of our Exeter garden centres.