Ruud Kleinpaste: Now is the time to get on with the gardening

Typical time of the year – we need to get on with Gardening in many different parts of the garden!

My tunnel house has to be prepared for spring and summer: the plastic cover is absolutely dirty and covered with algae and grime. That means that the sunlight is reduced, and plants will struggle to get into photosynthesis.

I usually grab my Wet-and-Forget Rapid to weaken the winter load of moss, mould, and grime so everything will brighten up and grow some decent crops, plants, and flowers.

The next step – equally important!

Order the seeds, bulbs, or cuttings you are wanting to plant. Not just in the glass house or tunnel house, but anywhere in the borders, along the paths, in raised beds, or simply in indoor pots, terracotta, or ceramic beauties.

Everything will now develop to a great, young plant, ready for trans-location to your garden. Remember, the best growth is between now and Christmas!

While you’re organising the new plants from your favourite supplier, it pays to consider getting some useful Seed Raising Mix.

I reckon that stuff is important to get the seeds growing marvellously. Not just quicker but also providing the right fertilisers to produce strong plants that utilise the N, P, and K for the future months.

When the plants are a lot bigger, you can always start playing with the phosphorus (root growth) and Potash (to stimulate flowering and fruiting) and Nitrogen (to get healthy leaves).

One of the things I often forget is the hedges: pruning them is generally a pain in the proverbial, but to be honest, the more you prune the hedges, the denser they’ll become!

We are now already a week or so too late for the first pruning (late August is great!), with a second one in October and the third in December. Every trim creates lots of new buds – hence the density in the long run.

And then there is the last opportunity to prune some trees. While some of the “late-comers” are still without leaves, it allows you to prune them efficiently; you can see where all the branches are, so you can shape them the way you want. A decent pruning job will also create new buds lower down the tree – you can then decide how high you want that tree to grow and how dense it will be in your garden.

The more you prune, the more “end-buds” you create – and that means that you can shape the tree exactly the way you like it.

To be honest: this part of September is ridiculously busy, which means that I have spent far too much time writing all these notes...

Gotta get on with it NOW.

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