Welcome to my potting shed! This is the column where I’ll share all my gardening hints and tips – and I’ll try to answer any queries you may have.
Q Why do slugs eat some of my hostas and leave others growing right beside them untouched? – Tim Mason, Clarkston.
A I’ve noticed slugs in my garden seem to crawl past hostas with blue-green leaves to get those with bright green or yellow foliage. The answer may be to create more plants from divisions of the varieties slugs ignore.
Carrots sown now will germinate quickly
in warm soil and be unaffected by carrot fly. Thin as they grow and keep weed-free.
Q What’s the problem with my azalea? It’s eight years old and looks healthy but this year it produced only two flowers. – E. Russell, Letham.
A Give it a dose of feed for ericaceous plants as azaleas really need an acidic soil. Other reasons for the lack for flowers could be pruning in late summer, after next year’s flower buds have formed, or a spell of dry weather that stopped the buds from developing.
Keep deadheading roses to encourage
further flowering. Rub off any greenfly.
Q Can I divide a huge rhubarb plant now to give a clump to my sister? – Aileen White, via email.
A Now’s not the time to start dividing rhubarb. Wait until winter, when the plant is dormant, and split the whole plant into three or four separate crowns before replanting.
Check containers for signs of drying out.
Even after heavy rain pots that are densely planted can still be dry.
Q My pansies have grown very leggy and flopped out of their hanging baskets. Should I replace them with something else? – Megan Docherty, Linlithgow.
A There’s no need to ditch them. Simply cut them hard back, apply a liquid feed and in a few weeks they’ll have produced fresh leaves and flowers.
Start picking sweet peas as soon as they
flower and keep picking throughout the season.
Q My eucomis plants are looking disappointing. They seem a bit stunted. What’s happened to them? – R, Douglas, via email.
A The dry spell in May has affected their growth and reduced their flowering potential. Next spring make sure that the replacements aren’t allowed to dry out.
Check the ties on trees, loosening them if they have become too tight.