Keep plants happy with shade and plenty of water
This year’s unusually cool, dry spring has set growth back in many gardens, and made watering a major task at a time of year when it’s rarely called for. My pea and broad bean plants are about half their normal height and the herbaceous perennials transplanted in March have needed regular soakings to survive.
Thankfully, as I write it’s pouring with rain, but if the weather remains generally dry keep all of your plants well watered. Drenching soil in the cool of the morning or evening, perhaps once a week, is much more useful than a meagre amount each day, as it allows water to soak down to a depth where it’s useful to roots. If in doubt, dig down to see that the soil is moist to a good depth before stopping. Plants in containers, at the base of walls and under cover are especially vulnerable to drying out, so check them daily.
Now that it has at least rained a little, weed seedlings are rocketing up and should be hoed off without delay. Slugs and snails are back on form too, and there are huge numbers of aphids this year, which are causing new shoots to curl and become distorted. Having kept bees, I don’t use any pesticides and prefer to either squash small infestations between thumb and forefinger, blast them off with a jet from the hose, prune out badly affected shoots or just tolerate the damage and wait for the ladybirds and blue tits to eat their fill. If you feel you must spray, please do it late on a cool evening when most beneficial insects will be out of harm’s way.
At least the nights are now milder,
If in doubt, dig down to see that the soil is moist to a good depth
which means summer bedding, dahlias, and tender vegetables such as courgettes, squashes, runner beans and sweetcorn can be planted out safely once they have been hardened off. Sow French and runner beans at the base of cane supports, and make sowings of salads, peas, root crops, kale and Florence fennel to see you into autumn. Thin out rows of vegetable seedlings, pinch out the tops of broad bean plants as they flower, and train tomatoes and cucumbers up supports in the greenhouse, removing any unwanted sideshoots. Apply shade paint to greenhouse glass now to prevent delicate leaves scorching in the summer sun and temperatures soaring inside on sunny days. I always find this a strange practice in Scotland, where generally I crave a bit of heat, but the needs of the plants come first, and perhaps it’s the challenge of learning every trick to keep them happy that keeps us gardening year after year. n