Simplify container care

We all like a simple life and since containers are perfect for small gardens how can you make care of them easy? If you want your containers to work for you the first step is to choose a container that is attractive in its own right and one that can make a feature of itself even if it is unplanted. A large deep colourful container would do the job perfectly.

If you choose a terracotta pot, line it with polythene pierced with a drainage hole. This will help moisture stay in the pot. Another aid to reducing watering is to use a good container compost, many come with added moisture retaining gels and slow release fertilisers which means that your plants will be fed too! For further advice and ideas why not visit your local garden centre like St Bridget Nurseries in Exeter? (Sidmouth Road and Old Rydon Lane, Exeter, Devon, UK).

Companion planting

Everyone needs a companion and plants are no exception!

When growing vegetables there are a number of companion plants that are a sound way to improve soil quality, reduce pests and diseases and complement their partners.

Simply intersperse rows of vegetables with helpful herbs.

For example...

Peppers grow well with basil (they taste nice together too)!

Celery grows well wioth tomatoes

Brassicas grow well with nasturtiums, onions, garlic and potatoes.

Tomatoes grow well with asparagus, basil, carrots and brassicas.

Runner beans grow well with sweetcorn!

Be aware that there are also some bad matches such as, broad beans do badly with onions and garlic, potatoes do badly near tomatoes and runner beans and beetroot aren't friends either!

For vegetable plants and seeds to grow in your garden, go to a garden centre like St Bridget Nurseries in Exeter.

Royal Albert Memorial Museum Touring Exhibition: Global Gardeners
This fascinating exhibition charts the adventures of intrepid plant hunters of the Exeter and Chelsea firm of Veitch & Sons
Date: 24 May to 29 June
Time: Mon-Sat 8-5.30, Sundays 10.30 -4.30, Bank Holidays 9-5
Venue: St Bridget Nurseries, Old Rydon Lane, Exeter, UK, EX2 7JY

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Veitch & Sons sent fearless plant hunters all over the world to collect new species of plants. As well as the plants they collected the travellers also brought back objects as souvenirs from the countries they visited. The Veitch family donated many of these items to The Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) in the 1880s and they now form part of the Museum's World Cultures collection. These items provide a fascinating link between plants, collecting and empire.
Visit the touring exhibition to gain a better understanding of the influence of Veitch & Sons plant collectors on our planted environment.
St Bridget Nurseries acquired the famous Exeter nursery of Robert Veitch & Son in 1969 when failing health obliged the late Mildred Veitch to sell the business. For many years the nursery was run separately but it is now a subsidiary of St. Bridget Nurseries. A family firm with its third and fourth generations in the business, St Bridget Nurseries will always strive to ensure that the wonderful contribution made to horticulture by the firm of Veitch & Sons will never be forgotten.

Preview the exhibition at St Bridget Nurseries, Old Rydon Lane, before it opens to the public.
Join Veitch specialist and horticulturalist, Caradoc Doy, in a walk around our Nursery and see some of the plant varieties introduced by Veitch & Sons.
After a finger buffet in the Plantsman's café hear Tony Eccles, RAMM's Curator of Ethnography, talk about Victorian souvenir collecting featuring the souvenirs collected by the Veitch plant hunters.
Date: Friday 23rd May, 6pm
Tickets: £5 (inc buffet), must be purchased in advance.
Call 01392 873672 for tickets.

Indoor Plants

As outdoor temperatures rise, now is a good time to move conservatory plants, such as Cymbidium, Ficus and Citrus plants outdoors but bring back inside if cold nights are expected.

While you are tending to your indoor plants, clean shiny leaved plants. Many garden centres like St Bridget Nurseries sell leaf shine wipes, they help clear the leaf surface of dust and therefore allow the plants to 'breathe'!

In the conservatory, continue to prick out and pot on new seedlings and cuttings you have grown. May is a busy month for gardening!

Pest and Diseases

Now is a good time to get on top of Pests and Diseases that will start to flourish in the warmer weather.

Pinch out the tips of broad beans once they start to flower. This helps to discourage blackfly, which otherwise can decimate tender new growth. Also keep an eye on brassicas and other vegetables, which pigeons love to destroy! Cloches, frames of netting or fleece and similar covers will help to keep them away from vulnerable crops. Finally check roses for signs of blackspot, aphids (shown above on an Aquielgia leaf) and leaf-rolling sawfly damage.

Be supportive!

Now is the best time to put plant supports in place for herbaceous perennial plants before they are too tall or laden with heavy blooms.

Adding supports now will look more attractive too. This is because as the plants grow their leaves will help cover up the frames.

Criss-crossing strings from hidden ior decorative posts also works well as stems are allowed to grow upwards.

You can buy some really nice supports these days or alteratively there is always the traditional bamboo cane! For loads of ideas why not visit St Bridget Nurseries Garden Centres in Exeter?

School Visit

St Bridget Nurseries in Exeter has been working closely with the children of Lady Seaward's School in Clyst St George. The school's garden has been unused and neglected for years but thanks to one inspired parent, Cheryl McGauley, that is all set to change. Cheryl has started a garden project involving the children and the local community. In February a garden working party involving many of the parents helped clear the area while the children were tasked with designing the garden. The winning design involves a new pagoda to act as an outdoor classroom, a sensory garden, a wildlife garden, a vegetable patch and a recycling area.

St Bridget Nurseries first helped the project back in March when the first new additions went into the garden. St Bridget Nurseries donated a Yew Hedge. Yew is actually quite poisonous and not a usual choice for a school garden but the children have learnt that it also has some benefits! Not only is the hedge a great evergreen screen for privacy and a shelter for birds but it is also going to be used in medicine. Once a year the yews will be cut by professionals and taken away to be used in cancer research as a cancer fighting medicine.

Today, Friday 25th April 2008, the project continued with year 2 and 3 visiting St Bridget Nurseries in Old Rydon Lane, Exeter. The group of 7-9 year olds were taken through the garden centre and into the production nursery greenhouses and poly-tunnels. Nursery Manager, Jason Moore then showed them all the young bedding plants and taught them what plants need to grow well. They then all had a go themselves and planted some sunflower seeds which they are going to grow at school and see who can grow the tallest. The tour ended in St Bridget Nurseries' Wildlife Garden where the children where fascinated by the 'Bug Hotel' a structure that has been built using waste materials like broken pots, straw, bamboo canes, wood, twigs and bricks to attract and protect wildlife like bees, hedgehogs, butterflies and ladybirds!

If you would like to see the bug hotel for yourself, visit St Bridget Nurseries Garden Centre in Old Rydon Lane, Exeter, EX2 7JY as it is just outside the garden centre shop entrance.

More ideas on long term weed control...

Without doubt the easiest way to enjoy weed free beds is to add a thick layer of mulch or organic material, such as composted bark, bark chippings, gravel or cocoa shell.

Before putting the mulch in place, make sure the soil is free of weeds – as these will grow through the mulch – and that the soil is moist. For best results the mulch needs to be between 2 and 3 inches thick, although cocoa shell, gravel and stone mulches only need to be about an inch thick. Remember that mulches do more than just keep the weeds at bay, they also help keep the soil moist in summer, reducing that need to water, and they insulate the soil in winter. All in all protecting roots by preventing them from getting too cold or too hot and therefore helpsing to encourage good strong plant growth!

St Bridget Nurseries' Garden Centres in Exeter sell J Arthur Bowyers Bark Chips in 100 litre bags. Each bag is just £6.49 or you can buy 5 bags for just £27.50. Think of the amount of time you'll save from less watering and weeding!

Seed Sowing

You can tell when your soil is warm enough for seeds to grow when you start seeing weeds grow! Get rid of the weeds first and while they are young to save time and energy.

Hardy annuals can be sown outside where you want them to flower. Indoors you can sow a selection of annual climbers and sow tender vegetables indoors ready for planting out next month. Cucumber, basil, tomatoes, peppers and chillies can be sown indoors in seed trays or you could sow courgettes, marrows and pumpkins in individual pots.

When you visit your garden centre to buy your seeds don’t forget you may need seed trays, cell trays, small pots, a propagator, compost and labels. St Bridget Nurseries' Garden Centres in Exeter are brimming with all the right equipment you need to grow a bumper crop!

Off with their heads!

Having just read another great Tudor history novel it made me think of deadheading flowers!

Most flowers benefit from having their flowerheads removed as soon as they have stopped flowering. Plants like Osteospermums and Senetti particularly like this as they produce further flowers. Plants like hydrangeas and sedums often benefit from leaving their flower heads on that little bit longer. Hydrangea flower heads kept on over winter protect new softer growth in the spring from frosts. April is a good time to cut them off though - simply shorten thin or old shoots of the mophead and lacecap varieties (e.g. macrophylla) back to their lowest bud. Hydrangea paniculata varieties should be cut back to within two buds of their base.

If like me you get addicted to chopping once you've started, cut back any lavatera you may have. They like to be cut back hard - go right back to the base of the plant on all of last year's shoots, they'll soon grow again this summer!

MIRACLE-GRO LIQUAFEED

Miracle-Gro liquafeed hose end is an all purpose feed for the whole garden. Simply feed while you water. A starter kit including the hose end and one bottle of feed is just £9.99 at St Bridget Nurseries’ Garden Centres, Exeter.

PONDS
If you have a pond divide overgrown pond plants this weekend. Simply replant them in aquatic baskets filled with aquatic compost and top up with gravel. Irises, water lilies, rushes and reeds will all benefit from division.
If you have blanketweed on your pond, get a net and scoop as much as you can as it will prevent oxygen getting in if it stays there. You may also want to scoop out any remaining leaves from the autumn as they will clog the bottom of your pond if they are allowed to rot and this will ultimately affect the nutrient balance of your water.
For any of the above products of further advice call St Bridget Nurseries Aquatic Team today on 01392 876281.

WILDLIFE GARDENING

Birds will have started to pair up so while you are gardening make sure to avoid disturbing nesting birds. Keep birdbaths topped up with fresh water and regularly clean table tops and feeders as germs will spread as more and more birds use them.

Sow or plant a wildflower patch in your garden to attract and feed wildlife. St Bridget Nurseries' garden centres stocks a huge selection of wildflower seeds, plants and grass seed mixes that would be ideal plus as a Devon Wildlife Trust, Silver Level Approved Garden Centre their staff are extremely knowledgeable on wildlife gardening.

ORDER YOUR HANGING BASKETS NOW!
Its time to order your summer hanging baskets. St Bridget Nurseries' Garden Centres have a wide selection of baskets and tubs. Either plant now and keep in a greenhouse or conservatory or let st Bridget Nurseries quote to fill your own baskets (for collection later in the season) and they'll do the planting work for you.

Prices are: 10” basket from £23.00, 12” from £26.25, 14” from £30.00 and 16” from £33.50

If you re-use your baskets from last year prices are: 10” from £20.99, 12” from £24.25, 14” from £27.25 and 16” from £29.50

Call 01392 873672 (Exeter, Devon, UK) to order or e-mail Hanging baskets can ony be delivered in Devon, England. Delivery charge not included in the above prices.

LAST FEW APPOINTMENTS REMAINING
This weekend on Saturday 29th March St bridget Nurseries' Old Rydon Lane Garden Centre is holding a GARDEN DESIGN ADVICE DAY. Book your FREE 20 minute appointment with garden designer Rebecca Wells (http://www.rebeccawells.co.uk/) now as there are only a few appointments left.
A well designed garden adds so much to your enjoyment and quality of life as well as to the value of your property. Call Tammy on 01392 873672 or e-mail marketing@stbridgetnurseries.co.uk
St Bridget Nurseries' Garden Centre is just off J30 of the M5 in Devon.

SMITHY TUB

St Bridget Nurseries' Garden Centres sell hundreds of different containers - from terracotta and glazed pots to plastic window boxes and troughs. These Smithy Tubs made by Stewarts plastics are great for patios. They 35cm size pots retail at £4.99 each but St Bridget Nurseries are currently selling 2 for just £5.99! Bargain.

FLOWER POWER!

As plants are flowering there's lots we can do to help them...

1. If you want to, deadhead your daffodils as they fade but do not remove leaves, these dye back and provide the nutrients that the bulbs need to flower again next year.

2. Apply a general purpose fertiliser and mulches to beds and borders. Mulches are great as they help to keep the soil warm in winter and help suppress weeds in summer.

3. Give last year's containers a nice fresh top layer of compost.

4. Complete your pruning of summer flowering shrubs and late-summer flowering clematis but don't prune any spring flowering shrubs until after they have flowered.

5. Sow your summer bedding seeds in a heated propagator or under grass.

If you feel your garden is lacking colour at the moment, why not visit your local garden centre? By visiting monthly you'll see what is in flower and can ensure that your garden has year long colour and appeal. St Bridget Nurseries in Exeter grow nearly all their plants and all hardy plants come with a one year guarantee.

Easter Bunny!

St Bridget Nurseries Clyst St Mary garden centre (Sidmouth Road, Clyst St Mary, Exeter), doesn't just stock everything for your garden but it stocks a wonderful range of gifts too. We fell in love with the range of cuddly toys made by Jellycat. They are so soft and each face just says, "please take me home"! There are lots of cuddly friends to buy including some great gift ideas for Easter - this Bashful Bunny is just £9.99. Have a look for yourself - the garden centre is just opposite the Westpoint Exhibition Centre on the Sidmouth Road near junction 30 of the M5.

Cheap cheap!

This gorgeous planter is available from St Bridget Nurseries' Garden Centres (unplanted) for only £10.99! It's a great tweat for someone!

Garden Furniture

If you are buying wooden garden furniture this year look out for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)logo as it identifies products which contain wood from well managed forest and other controlled sources certified in accordance with the rules of the FSC. St Bridget Nurseries' Old Rydon Lane Garden Centre in Exeter sells many FSC furniture pieces from benches, picnic tables to tables and chair sets. The new FSC teak Richmond Tea for Two set is a perfect set for small balconies or patios and a romantic couple. The set comprises 2 chairs, 2 seat pads and a table and is only £399.99.