Houseplant care

Now’s the time to give your houseplants some tender loving care. Most houseplants will need less water than in summer and you can stop feeding foliage houseplants. Autumn and winter-flowering houseplants will benefit from feeding with a high potash liquid fertiliser every 7 to 10 days. If your plants have been enjoying the summer outdoors bring them back inside before the weather deteriorates.

Summer bedding cuttings

Take cuttings from all your half-hardy bedding plants, such as fuchsias, bedding geraniums, marguerites and osteospermums, to ensure you have plenty of plants for next year. Take the cuttings just below a leaf, remove the leaves from the lower half of the cutting and dip the end in hormone rooting powder or liquid. 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. 

Don’t forget to pick up everything you need for successful cuttings, including pots, compost, dibbers, rooting hormone, labels and propagators from one of our garden centres in Exeter.

Autumn is here!

Autumn is the ideal season to plant all kinds of things in the garden from vegetables, seeding lawns, shrubs and perennials to evergreen, fruit, and deciduous trees. Yet when it comes to planting, many gardeners mistakenly think this should be done in Spring.


The ideal period for autumn planting is regarded as six weeks before the first hard frost so September and October is the perfect window for gardeners. Rather than let your garden lie dormant over winter, it can be rich with colour from oranges to reds, vibrant pinks and purples, blues to evergreens.

Autumn is a great time to plant as the soil is warm and the rain is frequent, providing plenty of moisture. This will give the plant the best start in life and encourage root growth. The plant will have time to put down roots before winter so that when spring arrives it will have a real head start. The plant will also require less watering as it will have already started to establish.
When planting, water well and remove the pot. Plant in a hole that's approximately around 5cm larger all round. Back fill with soil mixed with multi purpose compost and gently firm. Water again and repeat regularly until established.




Popular plants for the Autumn include:

Heuchera 'Palace Purple' and ‘sanguinea' Plant together for an eye-catching mix of contrasting colour making stunning borders and pots in the Autumn.
Choisya ‘Ternata' An evergreen shrub with glossy, dark green leaves, and clusters of fragrant, pink-tinged white flowers in late spring
Viburnum ‘Davidii' ‘Tinus' and ‘Eve Price' An evergreen shrub for winter interest with dark green foliage and white star shaped flowers from winter to spring.
Helleborus Provides a long winter season of interest with pink or white flowers that are produced continually through winter and early spring.
Sedum  ‘Autumn Joy' and ‘'Ruby Glow' - Easy to care for perennial that creates a colourful display with red/pink flowers that lasts well into winter.

Winter flowering containers

To get the best displays from your winter and spring hanging baskets and containers, plant them now.

Plants to use include ivy, dwarf conifers and dwarf shrubs, winter-flowering pansies, hardy primulas and polyanthus. Add bulbs to extend life and colour of the display.

We have a fantastic range of ready made containers and hanging baskets in our garden centres or if you prefer to make your own you'll find everything you need from pots to compost to stunning homegrown plants.

Compost

Recycling and making your own perfect crumbly compost is a great way of being green. First you’ll need a container or compost bin to keep all the contents together which helps build up the temperature needed for the material to rot down. Make sure you have a good mixture of material – all grass clippings for instance will just make a horrid gooey mess, so add kitchen waste, spent bedding plants or even shredded newspapers and make sure everything is well mixed together.

Don’t compost cooked food, the roots of perennial weeds or weeds that are in flower or are seeding. Make sure all the material are in small pieces to aid the decomposition process. Try to fill the bin in one go with lots of plant material as this will help build up the high temperatures. Cover open bins and heaps with plastic sacks or even pieces of carpet. If you have a lot of tree leaves then it’s a good idea to compost these separately or mix them with grass cuttings to make a lovely material called leaf mould – which is perfect as a soil conditioner and mulch.

Tree Field Tours - FREE to attend

If you are considering adding ornamental or fruit trees to your garden then come along to one of our free tree tours.

Held behind the scenes on our nursery in Old Rydon Lane, you will be shown the open ground tree field and we will explain how we produce trees and help you understand terms such as rootstocks, tree shapes and fruit pollination groups. At the end of the tour you will be free to wander the field and order from the field for collection or delivery later in the season.

Tree Field Tours are at 10.30am on the following days:
Wednesday 22nd October
Saturday 8th November
Wednesday 19th November
and Friday 21st November

To reserve your place please e-mail office@stbridgetnurseries.co.uk or call 01392 873672.

Force bulbs for Christmas

Now’s the time to buy your prepared hyacinth and other bulbs to guarantee flowers for Christmas. Plant them in pots or shallow bowls, leaving the neck of the bulb just exposed above the compost.
Then place somewhere cold and dark for 10 to 14 weeks. 
They can be moved into the light and warmth when the flower buds start emerging.

We have a fantastic range of bulbs in both our garden centres in Exeter.