Gardening: Week by week

Your guide on what to do in the garden this week, brought to you by Earlston Horticultural Society

Flowers

DAFFODILS: As daffodil flowers start to go over the spent heads can be picked off. This will tidy up the plants and prevent them from setting seed, the energy used to form seed is therefore used to build up the bulbs for next year. Leave the foliage intact to allow the nutrients to go back into the bulbs, this can take at 5-6 weeks. Do not cut off or tie off the leaves, let them die down naturally.

CARNATIONS: Carnations and Pinks are fairly short-lived plants as they become woody at the base after a few years. They are easily grown from cuttings and you can take cuttings now. Select tips that don’t have flower buds, the tips can be cut off or just pulled from the stem, trim the cutting just below a pair of leaves and carefully remove the bottom two pairs of leaves. Insert the cuttings into a sandy compost and water, they will root in 3-4 weeks.

SWEET PEAS: Young sweet pea plants can be planted out now that they have been hardened off. Sweet peas are greedy feeders so before planting work in some garden compost and add a general fertiliser to the soil. Plant against supports, water roots well and protect from slugs and snails. They will soon start growing up your supports.

Vegetables/Fruit

RHUBARB: Rhubarb that is starting to throw up flowers is a sign that it’s too happy. Check your plants to see if the rosy, balled flower stems are breaking through, if so then remove them at the base with secateurs. If left the flowers will soak up the plants energy and weaken the crown and prevent a healthy yield.

TOMATOES: It’s still a bit early but if you have a warm greenhouse you might want to try planting tomatoes. For beginners it’s probably best to use growing bags as the compost should be free from weeds, pests and diseases. You can try plant halos to make the process even easier either in your growing bag or in the greenhouse border of compost, this involves growing plants in tomato rings with a watering moat on the outside. Another method – ring culture involves bottomless pots on a bed of aggregate such as gravel. It’s usually easier to control watering and feeding using this traditional method and it keeps the roots strong, sterile and disease free.