Welcome to Garden King's Plant Doctor Blog, where our experts discuss and answer all your gardening questions. This week I'm talking about summer moves for established plants, feeding baskets and containers & feeding tomatoes now to encourage more fruit.
Well it's wet again and looking at it positively - it's an unexpected bonus to more plants that are in the wrong place. Moving established plants during the Summer is usually a big no, no - due to the fact the soil is often dry and rain can be sparse. Well this year my friends you can get digging - you can move established plants by digging them up with as much soil as possible and replant straight away in a large enough hole to take the whole root ball and soil. Water the newly positioned plant thoroughly and keep moist until it has re-established itself.
Don't neglect your hanging baskets and containers, when you have so many plants in such a small place - it's important to keep them well fed and watered. Flowering plants need a high-potash feed to keep the glorious colour and bloom going. Liquid tomato fertiliser can can be added to the watering can, feed summer baskets and containers once a week and water them every day - even with all the rain lately! These tightly packed plants often prevent rain from reaching the compost and drying winds can soon make your plants wilt. At Garden King you'll find a wide range of feeds and fertilisers, including tomato concentrate & sulphate of potash.
It's important to feed your tomatoes to encourage more fruit. The tomato plants in your greenhouses are probably still looking good. To get the most out of your plants in this bad weather, keep feeding them every week and remove sideshoots. Feed your tomato plants when they produce flowers, follow the instructions on the tomato fertiliser bottle and add feed to your watering can once a week to ensure the heaviest crop you can. Keep removing sideshoots and as you look at each plant, tap their canes to give the plants a gentle shake. This will encourage pollen distribution, helping the flowers pollinate - resulting in a heavier crop.
If you have any suggestions, questions or comments - feel free to drop us a line (we'd love to hear from you!). You can email plantdoctor@gardenking.co.uk, call us on 01283 550 516, add us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
Happy gardening x
