If you want some climbers to take the bareness of a north facing wall the best are: Jasmin Star, Climbing Hydrangea, Holboellia coriacea, and .An ever green Honeysuckle
To stop you lawn taking weeks to recover after the winter weather you need to think a head and feed your lawn in the Autumn. If it has a tendency to be water logged then at the end of the Summer spike the ground.
You can get double value out of a wild garden by plants for eating and herbal use, like thyme, sorrel and dandelions for salads. Sea kelp and its stalks are edible, blue flowered chicory can be used as a vegetable and if you ground its roots it can be a substitute for coffee. Watercress is a children’s favourite can be added to salad.
To keep larger winter bulbs at their best while growing in the house plant them in bulb fibre rather than compost then feed them with liquid fertiliser like tomato feed after flowering.
When growing dahlias in dry spells make sure they receive at least 2 gallons of water every other day or they will wilt very quickly.
Heather’s mix very well with dwarf conifers, both are evergreen and planted in acid soil will not need much maintenance
Do not lift your daffodil bulbs as leaving them in the ground will allow them to become stronger and give a larger display next year.
In windy spots early and mid season tulips do well.
Marigolds will act like weed killers on some persistent weeds like couch grass and bindweed The best at this are French marigold and African marigold. These also help to keep the summer midges way.
Shady spots are ideal for growing lilies as long as the soil is not too dry.
Lobelia is a popular edging plant but it can transform a hanging basket into a ball of colour. Pick a trailing variety of lobelia and a wire hanging basket. Prepare the basket as normal and place some lobelia in the top, then make the holes with your finger into the moss lining around the sides and underneath the basket. Put small clumps of lobelia into the holes, making sure the roots are in the compost then feed and water the basket as normal. In no time at all you should have a globe of colour.Don’t worry about staking Nasturtium plants, put them in a sunny spot close to your shrubs and they will climb and mix in with the plant adding extra colour and a new dimension to your shrub.
When picking poppies for display you can extend their life by firstly picking stems that the buds are only just starting to show colour on then sealing the stems ( this keeps the sap in them ) by either dipping the bottom of the stem in boiling water for one minute or putting the bottom into a flame for 20 seconds.
Propagate lily-of-the-vally easily in Autumn by lifting them and cutting each one into sections so that each piece has buds on the upper surface and roots on the basal part.
In an exposed garden it is best to protect your plants with a protective netting.
By using Roses for hedging you can have continuous colour for most of the summer into Autumn.
When growing Asparagus always grow on a raised bed as this improves drainage.
If you have fruit trees try to keep the area around the tree free of weeds as they can steal the nitrogen that the tree need to grow healthy.
Scented plants like Belle Etoile, mock orange and Lilac are great to put on walk ways and close to area’s that you sit in your garden.
If you stake your plants that grow tall such as delphinium’s early on they can carry on growing and be tied at interval you are less likely to lose them to a strong wind.
When adding brussel sprout leaves to you compost heap make sure you tear them up and mix them in well with the other compost or else the will take longer to break down.
Do not store bulbs in plastic bags unless you keep them in dry peat in the bag, even then you must allow air to circulate so do not seal the top of the bag.
If you love bulbs flowers but do not like to have to keep lifting them for storage every year look at the Hardy summer bulbs like, lilies, anemones, ranunculus and tigridias. If you plant them about 4 in deep then they should be protected against the winter frost.
If your cacti have not blooming then add liquid fertiliser that is high in potassium and this should do the trick.
You can add colour to your garden without having flowers, look at the burgundy leaves of Berberis thumbergil ‘Rose Glow’ and yellow berries of Pyracaritha rogersiam ‘Flava’.
Looking for ground cover plants try Polygonum affine.
Got a tall tree with nothing under it? Brighten it up with some bulbs like Muscan armeniacum, Erythronuim revolutum and jonquils.
Looking for things to add to your compost heap? Shred up a few old news papers and mix in with your lawn cuttings.
If your compost heap is really smelly and wet then add a bit of straw and try to cover it up from the rain.
If your narcissus is established but has shown little or no flowers this year then they are too close together and need separating. So wait until after any that have shown flowers have finished blooming then lift them and store them until September and replant them as required.
Save money on Dahlias by collecting the seeds fro heads around September and October. Cut the heads when they start to turn to seed, place the head in a paper bag and hang in a cool dry place. Keep them there until March/April and then sow them as usual.
Living near the seaside gives you access to a free source of manure. Collect seaweed in winter or spring and mix it with alternative layers of ground compost and the following autumn fork it into the top soil 2 buckets per square yard.
When buying bare rooted plants you should only plant them from October to March.
If you want to propagate bamboo plants wait until you have cane on the outer edge that are at least 2 yrs. old so they will be flexible. Cut them into sections about 12 in long and put them into a deep pot of compost. They are best rooted in a warm green house.
Save money on pots and trays for growing seeds and cuttings by using used old clean yoghurt cartons but make sure that there are plenty of holes in the base.
As soon as your Rosemary shrubs have finished flowering you should trim the bush lightly with garden shears to encourage new growth
Several of the shrubs that are good for flower arranging are: Buxus, Fatsia, Loniceria, Azaleas, Ribes and Spiraea.
When growing mint always keep it in pots as it will take over the whole herb area in planted in the ground.
By surrounding your vegetable garden with low hedging you will protect the plants from some of the wind chill that we get in winter.
Think that your green house might be letting in cold air? An easy way to find out is to buy a smoke pellet and close all of the doors and windows, light the pellet and stand outside the green house. Any where that the smoke comes out is where you have a problem.
A fun idea with dried Straw Flowers is to use them in decoration. You take a bottle with a narrow neck and a good handful of flower heads, slightly moisten the heads and they should curl up into small balls, now place the heads in the bottle leaving the top open. When the flower heads open back up to their full size you can cork the bottle and it will look like magic. They make great talking point, a bit like a ship in a bottle.
Keep a thermometer in your greenhouse so that you can keep the temperature constant.
