Pest Watch

Although most pests and diseases are less active in autumn and winter, be vigilant for problems, and deal with them as soon as they’re seen.
Houseplants and plants overwintered in greenhouses and frames are especially susceptible to pests, but can be quickly helped with a pesticide spray.  Maintaining a high humidity around most foliage houseplants – especially those in centrally heated houses – will help keep them strong and healthy and help reduce red spider mite attacks. The reverse is true in greenhouses and frames where high humidity can lead to problems with grey mould and other diseases.

Plant hedges now

Hedges are the perfect solution for providing a colourful, natural-looking boundary to a garden. There are lots of plants suitable for providing a hedge, barrier or screen – whether you want evergreen or deciduous, formal or informal.  Now’s also a great time to plant an inexpensive hedge as there’s a wide range available of bare-rooted hedging plants – such as privet, beech, hawthorn and hornbeam.

When it comes to planting a new hedge it’s important that the soil is prepared well. Start by digging out a trench, fork over the base and incorporate plenty of organic matter. Mix the excavated soil with lots more organic matter and some bonemeal or controlled-release fertiliser, then re-fill – firming the soil as you go.

Before planting, water the plants well; always place the roots of bare-root plants in a bucket of water for half an hour. Then plant at the right distance; most types should be planted about 18 inches apart (48cm), although conifers and more vigorous types can be planted two to three feet apart (60cm). Then after planting water them in well, and water during dry spells for the first year.

Our garden centres have a wide range of hedging available just call 01392 873672 or pop in to discuss your requirements.

Plant of the month: Cyclamen

Our homegrown cyclamen are looking fantastic and are exceptionally good value.

Whilst we grow larger cyclamen to have as Christmas houseplants, the type of cyclamen I am referring to here are hardy cyclamen for outdoors.

A delightful tuberous perennial (plant once but it will reward you with colour year after year) that provides colour when little else is flowering. Cyclamen flower mostly in autumn and winter but can extend into early spring. Hardy cyclamen are ideal for naturalising under trees, on banks or in a shady border and planted in association with other early-flowering woodland plants such as snowdrops and primroses.

As a winter plant they don't mind the cold and personally we love them for brightening up containers and providing low level colour at the base of trees and fronts of borders.

 

At £1.99 each or 3 for £5 they are a bargain!

                   

Free tools for Farms for City Children

Here's a photo of local farm manager Lee from the charity Farms for City Children. We were delighted to hand over several bundles of recycled tools to the charity from our scheme with the organisation Tools Shed.

 

Our customers very kindly donate their old, rusty unwanted gardening hand tools. We then pass these on to Tools Shed who take them to Dartmoor Prison where the prisoners recondition them and make them as good as new. We then get the tools back to pass on to local community groups and charities.

 

As you can see Lee is over the moon! If you are a local community group that could benefit from this scheme then do contact us by e-mail and to find out more about the brilliant Farms for Children then please visit http://www.farmsforcitychildren.org  

Halloween

Have a goulish Halloween this year – we’ve got everything you need to ensure you have a devilishly good time on October the 31^st. How about a besom broom to complete your witch’s costume and why not pick up some pumpkin seeds so you have home-grown pumpkins next year?

 

In addition, our Clyst St Mary garden centre has Pumpkin Mollys as their fish of the month, a great price of £5 for 5 fish plus buy in half term week to receive a free packet of Haribo Halloween sweets!

Indoor Azaleas & Cyclamen

 

Indoor azaleas and cyclamen are hard to beat for providing colour and a warm, cheery sight on a miserable autumn or winter’s day – but they do need to be cared for if you want the best flowers and a long flowering period.

 

They need a cool position in the house – and certainly well away from radiators and other sources of heat. They also need good light, but not in direct sunlight. Another important success factor is to keep the compost moist at all times – don’t let it become dry or waterlogged. Watering little and often is usually the best way to get good results. When watering cyclamen it’s important that the tuber doesn’t become too wet so we always water from below by standing the pot in a saucer and topping up the water until the top of the compost becomes moist and remember to use lime-free water (rainwater) for azaleas.

 

Just ask a member of staff in our houseplant area for helpful advice.

Half hardy bedding plants

Lots of customers have asked how to look after their half-hardy bedding plants over the winter.

 

Half-hardy bedding plants include fuchsias, surfinia petunias, geraniums, osteospermums and the other summer bedding plants we rely on. They’re not cold and frost hardy so they need to be kept frost-free during the autumn and winter.

 

The best place for them is a heated greenhouse or warm conservatory, but a cool spare bedroom or even a garage or shed will do  – providing it has a window and doesn’t get too cold.

 

You should start by cutting back excessive leafy growth, remove dead, dying and diseased leaves and any flowers, trim the roots and then pot them up into a pot just big enough for the roots using fresh compost. Don’t forget to check them over for pests too before you bring them indoors.

Autumn and Winter Colour

Because this time of year can be a bit dull in the garden we’ve been asked how to create masses of colour for autumn and early winter.

 

We think that one of the easiest ways to give colour and structure is to plant evergreen shrubs. If you choose carefully you can also have some welcome winter flowers. So, try mahonia, sarcococca, Viburnum tinus (see below) and winter-flowering heathers.

 

Once you have a backbone of shrubs you can plant herbaceous and bedding plants in the gaps. Asters will often flower well into late autumn – as will Japanese anemones. Further colour comes from planting hardy cyclamen, hardy chrysanths and winter-flowering pansies. Don’t forget the value of berries and autumn foliage colours. Just have a look around one of our planterias and you’ll see there’s a wealth of ideas to turn your garden into an autumn and winter wonderland.

Nursery Manager's Special - Patio chrysanthemums

Our bronze coloured patio chrysanthemums are looking fantatic and very autumnal.

They are fresh from the nursery and a bargain at £3.99 but you can buy two for just £6.50!

Please note other colours (such as yellow) are available but not on the special offer.

 

National Conifer Week

It's National Conifer Week - a time to big up the often overlooked conifer.

Conifers have many advantages for today’s modern garden;  good aesthetic qualities, they are low
maintenance, they provide interesting shapes and colours all year round, and can provide an instant colour or design effect. There are many different types of shapes and colours for any garden situation.

From a small balcony with room for a container, to acres of grounds with space, conifers can add something truly special to any garden. Conifers are also a wonderful way to bring gorgeous colour, structure and drama to a garden all year round, whether as a backdrop, a standalone feature, or in a border with other plants.

A potted conifer can be used to brighten up a doorstep or

balcony, whilst planted conifers can create height and add fantastic accent pieces to any garden.

We grow 69 varieties on our nursery in Exeter so we're bound to have a conifer just right for your garden!

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.

 

Autumn garden plans

Start planning that new garden border now. Look for plants with a long flowering period and those that have two or more seasons of interest with flowers, fruit, colourful stems and/or interesting foliage. Choose plants with different foliage colours and shapes, and remember that while evergreens help bring structure and winter interest they may need livening up with deciduous plants. Use winter and spring bedding plants to increase the seasons of interest, and plant bulbs for extra splashes of colour.

 

Fruit and Vegetables

The harvesting season is now in full swing, so make sure you pick crops that are ready. Leave them too long and they’ll lose flavour and tenderness. Now’s a good time to sow endive, radish and spring cabbage for next year plus winter varieties of spinach and maincrop turnips.

Having spent lots of time and effort growing your fruit and veg to perfection, protect it with fleece or small-mesh plastic netting – or, if you have a large area, put up a fruit cage.

 

Ericaceous plants

Rhododendrons, camellias and azaleas are all acid loving plants or ericaceous plants. They will be setting their flower buds now to bloom next year, so it’s important that they never go short of water at this time of year or the flower buds may fail next spring. Feeding will also produce more and better flowers. Mulching with bark or similar products will help maintain soil moisture levels and insulate the roots from damaging high temperatures.