Welcome to Garden King's Plant Doctor Blog, where our experts discuss and answer all your gardening questions. This week I'm talking about greenhouse must do's, jobs for the vegetable patch and planting up hanging baskets.
These are hot topics which our customers are asking us for advice on and there's no better time to get out in the garden and get cracking.
Well as I write this week's blog entry, I'm sat in the office at Garden King (which has no windows may I add) with an oscillating fan on full blast - the other day I was shivering with several layers on! Hooray, at last we've got some decent warm weather and let's hope it stays around for a while to come.
With this warm weather in mind, you need to protect greenhouse plants from scorching and keep the temperature down. You can reflect the scorching sunlight with one of 3 solutions available at Garden King. Greenhouse Mesh looks good, and when applied to the inside with greenhouse clips your plants will be protected from the harmful rays You can use garden fleecing as an alternative to achieve similar protection. Finally, you can use Bayer Coolglass which comes in a box of 4 sachets. Mixing all 4 sachets together with 1 litre of water will cover 15sqm (a 6ft x 8ft greenhouse). This solution clings to the glass (even in Britain's heaviest rainstorms) and when the season is over and the weather turns dull, remove Coolglass simply with a cloth/duster. Even with the protection of mesh, fleece or Coolglass - it's going to get very hot in your greenhouse. Make sure you ventilate your greenhouse during the day - but don't forget to close your vents at night.
Out on the vegetable plot, if you've got potatoes growing - look out for emerging shoots and earth up the surrounding soil - this will help to encourage higher yields. Get sowing spring onions, radish, parsley, coriander and chive seeds outdoors now for a delicious harvest in a few weeks time. It's also worth noting that it's not too late to sow more broad beans, sow straight into the soil, about 8cm deep and about 20cm apart. Remember to check your seed packet for the variety you're sowing as certain varieties like 'Stereo' can be sown a bit closer together if space is at a premium. If you have existing broad bean plants, remember to support them to keep them growing upright. As the plants get taller and more top heavy, they are very vulnerable to windy weather so stake them before they get too tall.
My final thought for this week is hanging baskets, these wonderful displays add a glorious splash of colour to any home. We have a wide range of tub and basket plants in stock now and various styles of hanging baskets, liners and brackets. We have everything you need to plant your own, but we have lots pre-planted and ready to go. Why not let us plant a hanging basket for you, simply buy your plants and basket (or bring in a basket from home) and we'll do the rest - often while you wait! This service is free of charge (providing you buy your plants from us) - they're great gifts for loved ones and a great addition to your home.
If you have any pressing gardening questions or need a bit of advice what to do next drop us an email to plantdoctor@gardenking.co.uk or pop in and see us at Garden King Newhall or Bradley.
Whatever you're up to this week/weekend, enjoy the weather and as always - happy gardening! x
