Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4

Week 1

General

Pruning after flowering- SALIX gracistyla 'Melanostachys’ and various VIBURNUM varieties. We remove about one third of the oldest branches to the base to relieve congestion and promote new growth. Our large PHORMIUM plants had the old brown leaves and last years flower spikes removed to make way for the new ones.

We started trimming our BUXUS hedges with shears and our BEECH hedges with hedgecutters, with the BEECH putting on much more sappy growth than usual – this was probably due to all of the rain we’ve recently experienced.

Spraying an insecticidal soft soap solution in the conservatory and greenhouses, as needed, with some plants being mainly affected by aphid and red spider mite.

Allotment

Planted out LEEK ‘Musselburgh’, ‘Carlton’ and ‘Mammoth’; CELERY ‘Giant Pascal’; ONION ‘Bedfordshire Champion’ and SWEETCORN ‘Applause’.

Planted SWEET PEAS and SUNFLOWERS in front of chicken run.

Nursery

Final preparations for The Gardeners' World Live Exhibition.

Elizabethan Vegetable Garden

Planted out COURGETTE ‘Orelia’; SWEDE ‘Angela’; TOMATO ‘Gardener’s Delight and SWEETCORN ‘Minipop’.

Planted NASTURTIUMS around edges of ASPARAGUS beds.

Planted MARIGOLDS between rows.

Greenhouse

Topped up POTATOES being grown in large pots.

Week 2

General

Strimming areas not suitable for mowing such as hedge bottoms and close to fences.

Deadheading and removing yellow/brown leaves from plants in the conservatory and greenhouses.

Allotment

Directly sowed BEETROOT ‘Cylindrica’, ‘Boltardy’, ‘Choggia Pink’, ‘Moneta’, ‘Burpees Golden’ and ‘Bikores’.

Planted out SPINACH ‘Perpetual’; KALE Nero di Toscana’; RUNNER BEAN ‘Lady Di’ and ‘White Apollo’ and PARSNIPS.

Planted FENNEL ‘Sirio’ on mounds of CELERY trench as a catch crop.

Gentleman's Cottage Garden

Pulled up SPINACH and cut off BROAD BEAN tops at ground level to leave roots in the ground.

Erected wigwam and planted CLIMBING FRENCH BEAN ‘Rob Roy’.

Planted MARROW ‘Long Green Bush 2’.

Greenhouse

Sowed CABBAGE ‘January King’, ‘Offenham Flower of Spring’ and ‘Ormskirk’; BROCCOLI ‘Claret’ and ‘Rudolf’; CAULIFLOWER ‘Romanesco’, ‘Sunset’, ‘Patriot’, ‘Galleon’ and Trevi’ and LETTUCE ‘Unrivalled’ and ‘Pandero’.

Potted on one of each of the PEPPERS to see how they compared with ones left in the smaller pots.

All plants grown for the Gardeners’ World 40th anniversary garden at the Gardeners’ World Live Exhibition have been collected by the BBC.

Week 3

General

Border work  - weeding, forking over, deadheading.

Any blanket weed growing in ponds was removed, this is an ongoing job throughout the growing season as well as topping up the water levels.

Watering conservatory and greenhouses as and when required.

Allotment

Planted out RUNNER BEANS 'Lady Di', 'White Appollo' and 'Rotbluhende' and FRENCH BEAN 'Plus Gus', 'Slenderette' and 'Tender Green'.

Weeded area and then planted out BRUSSELS SPROUT 'Cumulus', 'Brigitte', 'Montgomery', 'Wellington', 'Bedford Fillbasket' and 'Igor' and CALABRESE 'Hydra', firming plants well after planting. All plants had been lifted from seed bed prior to replanting.

Cut down COMFREY and NETTLES for use in compost bins.

Planted MELON 'Sweetheart' into hot box.

Elizabethan Vegetable Garden

Weeded all areas.

Planted out PARSLEY 'Moss Curled' and 'Flat Leaved'.

Dug out ROCKET and SPINACH 'Perpetual' that had finished producing.

Replaced ROCKET with gutter-raised plants.

Parterre

Planted out COURGETTE 'Zucchini' and SPINACH 'Perpetual'.

Pulled up all GARLIC plats affected with rust.

Artisan's Cottage Garden

Planted out gutter-raised TURNIP 'Golden Ball'; ROCKET and RADISH 'French Breakfast'.

Greenhouse

Sowed RADDICHIO 'Palla Rossa Bella'; PAK CHOI 'Green Revolution'; ENDIVE 'Kentucky'; KOHL RABI 'Purple Delicacy; TURNIP 'Tokyo Cross' and SPRING ONION 'White Lisbon.

Potted CELERY 'Loretta' into 8cm (3") pots.

Week 4

General

Some new plants were planted into the Alpine House. We tend to soak the beds that the pots are plunged into then not water again until the plants look thirsty, alpines like a well drained growing medium and cool roots. We find this method better than watering little and often.

Regularly watering and dead heading potted plants in the conservatory and greenhouses.

Mowing and lawn edging.

Allotment

Planted out FRENCH BEANS 'Valdor' and 'Canzone'; SQUASH 'Cobnut' and 'Barbara'; PUMPKIN 'Hooligan', 'Aladin' and 'Hundredweight'; GOURD 'Autumn Glory'; COURGETTE 'One Ball', 'Defender' and 'Orelia'; MARROW 'Longbush' and 'Sunburst' and TOMATO 'Gardener's Delight', 'Sweet Million', 'Alicante', 'Ailsa Craig', 'Tornado', 'The Amateur', 'Incas', 'Yellow Currant', 'Viva Italia', 'Golden Grape' and 'Piccalo'.

Lots of Raspberries being picked.

Nursery

Final preparations for the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.

Parterre

Removed PEA 'Douce Provence' that had all been harvested and replaced with FRENCH BEAN 'Purple Queen'.

Planted TOMATO 'Red Currant' and surrounded bed with CALENDULA.

Planted out CAULIFLOWER 'Astral'.

Elizabethan Vegetable Garden

Planted out LETTUCE 'Red Salad Bowl' and 'Salad Bowl'.

Gentleman's Cottage Garden

Planted out RUNNER BEAN ‘Painted Lady’; CLIMBING FRENCH BEAN ‘Rob Roy’; FRENCH BEAN ‘Borlotto Firetongue’; BRUSSELS SPROUT ‘Redbull’ and KALE ‘Redbor’.

Greenhouse

Potted on MELONS and CUCUMBERS into 5 litre pots.

Potted on TOMATO 'Ailsa Craig', 'Gardener's Delight', 'Golden Grape', 'Nimbus', 'Incas', 'Golden Sunset', 'Yellow Pear', 'Piccalo', 'Beefeater', 'Marmande' and 'Plumito' into 10 litre pots.

Potted TOMATO 'Green Zebra', 'Black Russian' and 'White Wonder' into 5 litre pots for positioning in small greenhouses.

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