NOW that the clocks have changed to Summer hours the nights are much brighter and, as a bonus to us gardeners, the weather has warmed up nicely.
Here at Cardwell Garden Centre in Gourock, this is our staff's favourite time of year, when the early signs of growth are obvious and everyone is full of optimism for the season ahead.
It is still a bit early to start planting summer bedding plants, but there are plenty of spring bedding that can be planted straight away. It is very important that you remember we may still get frost at this time of year, so you may have to harden off certain summer bedding plants.
This simply means getting your young plants used to the colder nights and can be easily achieved by leaving the plants outdoors during the day and making sure they are frost free overnight. Over a few weeks this will make sure your plants do not get 'shocked' by a cold snap one night. Alternatively, cover your plants overnight with frost protection fleece.
At Cardwell we always try and or grow our own or buy Scottish plants, so most of our bedding, tomato and vegetable plants are grown in the Scottish climate. It does not mean they are frost hardy, but they will be much stronger than plants brought in from the south of England or Europe, for example. Last week I noticed the local temperature in Gourock was 11 degrees Celcius, whilst London basked in 25 degree sunshine!
This makes a huge difference when it comes to plants.
Now is the perfect time to consider planting Autumn flowering bulbs. This may seem ludicrous when we have not even planted our hanging baskets, but now is the time to buy and plant all Autumn bulbs to make sure they get a good start to the year and are good and strong by the time they flower. It also means you get to choose your favourites whilst garden centres have a full range.
Seed potatoes and vegetable plants should be purchased now as well. I am often asked how to grow vegetables if you do not have access to an allotment or have space in your garden. The easiest way to do this is in planters or even hanging baskets!
Obviously tomato bushes will not grow in a hanging basket, but there are several varieties that will trail, rather than grow upwards. And there are also tomato plants that can be grown outside if you do not have a greenhouse.
Potatoes can be grown either in purpose made sacks, large planters or products such as Miracle Gro 'gro-sac'. The 'gro-sac' is a heavy duty bag of compost specially formulated for growing potatoes and root vegetables. All you have to do is poke some drainage holes in the bottom and plant it up! No need for large pots at all!
We have had a fantastic start to the gardening year and, although some rain is forecast for next week, we have a whole season to look forward to. Make the most of your garden, whether you have green fingers or not, there is a lot of pleasure to be had outdoors.
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