Arthur's top tips

• Spring clean with the range of ‘Hero’ outdoor cleaning products. Easy to use with very little work.
• Sprinkle sulphate of potash fertiliser around clumps of tulips to boost flowering
• Secure emerging clematis shoots to supports, taking care not to snap their fragile stems and apply slug pellets
• Plant out onion sets and shallots
• Continue to use ‘Osmo Moss killer’ on your lawn after applying a PH stabilizer
• Start to regularly spray roses that are vulnerable to disease, I always alternate between different sprays so they don’t have a chance to build up a resistance against it.
• Start sowing salad crops at regular 3-4 week intervals to ensure a regular supply for picking
• Tidy up hedges, but before you start cutting make sure no birds are nesting in them
• Throw sheets of fleece over fruit trees on frosty nights to protect blossom
• Plant up pots with spring colour and scents

Spring is here and the plants and trees are all looking hungry after the long winter. Feeding is the key to getting the best displays and crops from your garden. A number of chemical elements are essential for plant growth. Three are required in relatively large amounts, nitrogen for leaf growth, phosphorus for root development and potash for strengthening resistance to disease.  A general purpose fertilizer will have all these elements in the right amounts. Never apply fertilizer too close to the stem of your trees and shrubs as you can cause detrimental scorching.  A small handful of fertilizer sprinkled around the plant 30-40 cms (12-14”) out from the stem, little and often is better than one big feed.  Manure or fertilizer - the age old argument.  Actually, there is nothing to argue about, both are vital and neither can be properly replaced by the other. The role of bulky organic matter (farmyard manure, garden compost) is to make the soil structure good enough to support a vigorous and healthy crop. The role of fertilizers is to provide the plants with enough nutrients that they reach their full potential in this soil. In your vegetable garden, one of the most important uses for a general purpose fertilizer is to provide a base dressing just before sowing or planting. Crops which take some time to mature like purple sprouting broccoli or curly kale will need one or more top dressings during the season.  You can always use a slow release fertilizer to steadily release nutrients into the soil or compost for 6 months. Always read the instructions as every feed is different and if you can, choose an organic brand.

• Plant herbaceous perennials now for summer and autumn colour.
• Spray weeds and grass around trees and hedging before it gets out of hand.
• All trees and shrubs will respond to a feed now.
• Start thinking summer colour now.
• Continue planting potatoes and plant out vegetables.
• Have your protective fleece to hand just in case we get late frost.
• Take some time to enjoy the first flowers of spring.

Magnificent Cherries                                                                                                                         

I saw a report recently on what tourists found good about Ireland and it will come as no surprise that many are impressed with the beauty of our countryside and of course we take it for granted most of the time.  At the moment as we immerge from the winter the flowering cherries with their supplementary of colour and shape are heralding the arrival of summer.  You may not have room to plant all the varieties but one of the following will suit all gardens large or small.  Excuse the latin names but if you don’t use the proper name when you are shopping you may not get the variety you want.  Let’s start with the smallest one Prunus incisa ‘Kojo-No-Mai’ (the Fuji cherry), this flowers for weeks on end and can successfully be grown on a patio in a pot.  The ever popular weeping form Prunus ‘Kiku-Shidare-Zakura’ covered in double pink flowers in spring, perfect in any garden large or small.  Prunus ‘Amanogawa’, the flagpole cherry grows like a pillar, may grow 10-15 feet high but no more than 3 feet wide, well worth finding a home for.  One of my favourites has to be the flat-topped cherry known as Prunus ‘Shogetsu’ with its double white flowers on outstretched branches is a sight to behold. The ‘Blushing Bride’ Prunus ‘Shirofugen’ with its white tinted pink blooms is almost mystical.  Prunus ‘Royal Burgundy’ a recent introduction with double pink flowers has the added beauty of copper foliage for the summer.  Last but not least there’s a cherry for winter beauty which it only reveals when it has dropped its leaves to show off its peeling mahogany bark known as Prunus Serrula Nearly all the cherries have lovely autumn colour, Prunus Sargentii is unparalled... There’s a cherry for all seasons, plant at least one

• Give azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons a feed with ericaceous fertilizer (sequestrene of iron).
• Install water butts to all downpipes on you house, greenhouse or garage to collect rain water.
• Spray your roses now with rose clear.
• Plant herbs in pots and keep them close to the house so you can reach them easily.
• Mow lawns regularly gradually lowering the height of the cut as spring progresses.
• Continue sowing main crop potatoes.

Time is of the Essence

Call it what you will, prioritizing or as my mother says “a stitch in time saves nine”. Now is the optimum time to tackle weed control on your drive around your shrubs and especially around newly planted hedging. If you can spray or even hoe before the weeds grow out of control it’s a much easier task.  Everything in your garden is growing strongly with the good weather and in a couple of days grass that was 3 inches long becomes 9 inches long and dandelions that were not there yesterday are now in full flower. There are a vast amount of weed control products on the market and it can be hard to know which one is the best for a particular area. The spray for a gravel pathway may not be the one to use around a newly planted hedge. There are a number of things you must carefully take into consideration, choose the right spray for the particular location, follow the rate and mixing instructions carefully.  You need a dry calm day to avoid drift and you need to take precautions for yourself.  Use a mask and gloves when using chemicals and don’t forget to wash out your sprayer well with a little bit of washing up liquid and tepid water.  Never use boiling water as it damages the internal workings of sprayers. There are numerous sprays you can use, the following is a short list I find very effective and readily available.  Roundup is a multi-tasker, it can be used around hedges, shrubs and trees, it’s a very safe chemical as it is only taken in by the leaf, not by the root, so it has no after effects on your soil.  In close proximity to plants avoid spray drift, you can mix roundup in a bucket and apply with a paint brush.  Roundup is also available in a gel form with an applicator if you are dealing with grass growing up through shrubs. If you are considering extending a shrub bed and want to kill off grass, spray with roundup and leave for 18 days.  If you don’t wish to wait that long use Resolva, you can dig after 24 hours.  For weed control in non-cropped areas, gravel driveways or interlocking paving Premazor 57 gives good all season control.  If there are existing weeds in these areas add some roundup in the mix as Premazor 57 prevents weeds from growing rather than killing existing ones.  If you want to kill weeds in your lawn you must use a selective weed killer i.e. one that will kill dandelions and daisies and so forth without harming the grass.  Duplizon is very good but any spray containing 24D or MCPA will work. For best control spray about one week after you have fed your lawn when the weeds are actively growing,  choose a calm evening and do it at dusk if possible when the bees have gone home.

• Continue to plant dahlia and lily bulbs, come summer you will be glad you did!
• Lightly clip box edging and topiary to neaten them up
• Sow seeds of the following crops this week if conditions are fine: beetroot, parsnips, turnips, onions, peas and mangetout, broad beans, lettuce and salad leaves, spinach, radish, rocket, pak choi, cauliflower, cabbage and Brussels sprouts
• Thin out seedlings from earlier sowings
• Secure emerging clematis shoots to supports, taking care not to snap their fragile stems
• Prune early-flowering clematis, such as Clematis m=Montana, immediately after flowering to control their size
• Start using your garlic spray to ward off disease on your disease vulnerable roses
• Spray new leaves on disease-prone roses with fungicide, to prevent infection by mildew, rust or blackspot
• Hoe bare areas of soil to prevent weed seedlings from establishing themselvesPlant up ponds with new aquatic plantsKeep newly planted trees and shrubs well watered until established
• If you planted spring bulbs in your lawn avoid mowing off leaves until early June
• If you have a greenhouse, you can now plant tomatoes, melons and pepper plants in big pots or in an instant planter (a fatter type of grow bag)
• Throw sheets of fleece over fruit trees on frosty nights to protect blossom
• Place collars around the stems of brassicas to prevent an attack of cabbage root fly
• Feed strawberries with a high potash feed and plant a borage next to them

Food.

One of the most frequently asked questions we are asked in the garden centre is what, where & when to feed plants. Plants are able to make their own food by capturing the energy from sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugar (remember your school science classes) but in order to stay healthy and give the best results they take additional nutrients out of the soil or compost, so it's important to provide them with supplementary fertiliser. The basic nutrients required by plants are nitrogen (N) for leaf and stem growth, phosphorus (P) for root growth and potassium (K) for flowers, fruit and to maintain healthy growth. Adding fertiliser to the base of planting holes for new plants will encourage good root establishment and growth in the first season. A good balanced granular fertiliser can be applied around all established plants in spring. Distribute it around the base of plants at the rate recommended on the packaging. Avoid getting granules on soft stems and leaves as it may scorch them. Slow-release granules can be mixed with the compost in pots when planting summer bedding to provide nutrients for the whole growing season.  If you have existing planted pots, this slow release fertiliser does come in tablet form that can be pushed into the soil, feeding for the whole season.  Fertilisers are also available to mix up with water for liquid application. Liquid concentrates and ready-to-use liquid feeds are also available. These are quick acting as the plant roots can take in the dissolved nutrients with the water. For best results apply fertilisers when the soil is moist. Always apply high-potash fertilisers to encourage flowering of all plants and a good crop of any plant grown for its fruit and for great vegetables apply lime to improve the soil structure. Diluted liquid feeds or fertilisers can be applied to the foliage of many plants for quick results (roses greatly benefit from a foliar feed in July/ August). Always read the instructions as every feed is different and if you can choose an organic brand.

• Plant herbs in pots and keep them near the house so that you can easily access them.
• Make sure that you carry them into the house for the night or fleece or cover them if they are in a tunnel or greenhouse if you have tender seedlings.
• If conditions are right, sow seeds of the following crops this week: beetroot, parsnips, turnips, onions, peas and mangetout, large beans, lettuce and salad leaves, spinach, radish, rocket, pak choi, cauliflower, cabbage and Brussels sprouts.
• Offer generous feed with acidic (ericaceous) fertiliser to azaleas and acid-loving shrubs.
• Plant the seedlings of sweet peas sown last autumn
• Install water butts on your home, shed or greenhouse for all downpipes, to capture rainwater.
• Tie to plant supporters in young delphinium growth and defend them from a slug attack.
• Raise and break Hemerocallis clumps.
• Secure emerging clematis shoots to supports, taking care not to snap their fragile stems.
• Plant some garlic in pots, so you can move it around to where it is needed, for aphid protection.
• Start using your garlic spray to ward off disease on your disease vulnerable roses.
• Mow lawns regularly, gradually lowering the height of the cut as spring progresses.
• Throw sheets of fleece over fruit trees on frosty nights to protect blossom
• Plant out sets of onions and shallots.
• To prevent a cabbage root fly attack, place collars around the brassica stems.

Why not use lilies or dahlias to add a temporary, but timely, burst of colour if your garden suffers from gaps throughout the summer? Now plant bulbs into pots and you can simply drop them, pot and all into the patio displays, or even into the border of your flower.#

Give it a try... Last year, we had great success with the tomato called 'Totem.' Totem is a dwarf that has been bred in packs, pots, and containers for growing. It flowers very quickly and requires little support until the fruit begins to swell when a stake is required due to the sheer weight of the fruit produced.When fully ripened, the round fruit is crimson in color and it lasts long on the vine, making it suitable for picking and using in salads or barbecues.

Rosa Banksiae ‘Lutea’ An evergreen rose that is extremely easy to train. It’s exceptional vigour and virtually thornless whippy canes makes it easy to train along a fence, up an old dead tree, or over a garden shed .It produces clusters of small pale yellow flowers. They don't appear to fade with age, as many of the older yellow roses do, and they have a slight fruity fragrance. Although each flower may not have a strong perfume, when you multiply that by several thousand, then the scent is enough to perfume an entire area of your garden. Lutea would look lovely combined with wisteria, which flowers at much the same time. It is happiest in a sunny sheltered site (same as wisteria) and be sure to prune after flowering.

Herbs have been used for thousands of years for culinary and medicinal purposes, but they also attract and provide food for different species of wildlife. It is easy to grow many herbs and they have great ornamental value. Here are a few in the garden that you might consider planting. Borage is an attractive plant that has a mild cucumber flavour with hairy leaves. For pollinators, such as bees, butterflies and hoverflies, its delicate blue flowers are a magnet. As it is said to add flavor to the strawberries, we often plant borage in our strawberry tunnels, and the girls in the coffee shop sometimes steal the flowers to decorate their cakes. One of the best plants to grow to attract bees and butterflies is Lavandula. Hundreds of species and cultivars are available to choose from, producing attractive scented May-September blooms. In this area, we have found the two best varieties are 'Munstead' and 'Hidcote' if you plant in any quantity. Fennel produces enticing yellow blooms that attract hoverflies if left to flower, and birds enjoy the seeds in autumn and winter. Sage, Salvia officinalis, is best known for the distinctive taste of its leaves, but its tiny blue blooms, if left to flower, provide bees and butterflies with nectar and pollen.

• Warm soil with cloches or sheets of polyethene for early sowings.
• Plant herbs in pots, and keep them close to the house so you can reach them easily.
• If you have tender seedlings make sure you bring them into the house for the night or fleece or cover them if they are in a tunnel or greenhouse.
• Sow seeds of the following crops this week if conditions are fine: beetroot, parsnips, turnips, onions, peas and mangetout, broad beans, lettuce and salad leaves, spinach, radish, rocket, pak choi, cauliflower, cabbage and Brussels sprouts.
• Sprinkle fertiliser around clumps of tulips to boost flowering.
• Harden off sweet pea seedlings sown last autumn.
• Install water butts to all downpipes on your house, shed or greenhouse, to collect rainwater.
• Lift and divide clumps of hemerocallis.
• Secure emerging clematis shoots to supports, taking care not to snap their fragile stems.
• Plant some garlic in pots, so you can move it around to where it is needed, for aphid protection.
• Plant out onion sets and shallots.
• Place collars around the stems of brassicas to prevent an attack of cabbage root fly.
• If your garden suffers from gaps during the summer, why not use lilies or dahlias to add a temporary, but timely, burst of colour? Plant bulbs into pots now and you can simply drop them, pot and all - into displays on the patio, or even into your flower border.
• Trim winter-flowering heathers, removing faded flowers and tidying up their shape.
• Protect emerging shoots of delphiniums and lupins from slugs and snails using a barrier such as copper tape for pots (They won’t pass the copper line).

Give it a try… a few edible delights for growing in pots. We had great success with the tomato called ‘Totem’ last year.  Totem is a dwarf variety that has been bred for growing in packs, pots, and containers. It flowers very rapidly and it needs little support until the fruit starts to swell when the sheer weight of fruit produced may mean that a stake is needed. The round fruit is crimson in colour when fully ripened, and it lasts well on the plant, making it an ideal subject to pick and use in salads or barbecues.  If you like blueberries, you will love the new fantastic deliciously sweet pink berry, which is taking Europe by storm. This ornamental and fruiting plant, has a bushy upright growing habit with fine, pointed leaves which turn bright orange in the autumn. The pink bell-shaped flowers provide plenty of spring interest, followed by pale green fruits in summer, which quickly become dappled with pale pink and finally ripen to a deep glossy pink colour. As the autumn approaches, the leaves turn bright orange, fading to deep red .Superb eaten straight from the plant as they are twice as sweet as blueberries. You can grow it anywhere in pots or tubs. Thompson and Morgan have developed the urban container garden collection which means you can grow everyday crops like lettuce, carrots, peas, French beans and even chillies in containers. They have been bred to mature quickly and not take up too much space. For the sweetest baby carrots try a variety called ‘Paris market’ and a dwarf pea perfect for containers as it only grows 30” high called ‘sugar snow green’, if you get your children to plant them you might be surprised how easy it is to get them to eat them, it usually works! Give it a go. I have grown vegetables for years and if you are new to this you will probably find some vegetables work better for you than others and also that the weather conditions will also mean some things do better than others. Take the rough with the smooth and don't be unhappy if not everything works. That's quite normal. Best of luck!

• Plant up your pots with spring colour and scents.
• Spring clean with the range of ‘Hero’ outdoor cleaning products. Easy to use with very little work.
• Make sure to warm soil with cloches or sheets of polyethene for early sowings of peas and beans which dislike cold wet soil.
• Sow seeds of the following crops this week if conditions are fine: beetroot, parsnips, turnips, onions, peas and mange tout, broad beans, lettuce and salad leaves, spinach, radish, rocket, pak choi, cauliflower, cabbage and Brussels sprouts.
• Sprinkle sulphate of potash fertiliser around clumps of tulips to boost flowering.
• Secure emerging clematis shoots to supports, taking care not to snap their fragile stems and apply slug pellets.
• Plant out onion sets and shallots.
• Place collars around the stems of brassicas to prevent an attack of cabbage root fly.
• Continue to use ‘Osmo Moss killer’ on your lawn after applying a PH stabilizer.
• Trim leggy rosemary bushes to promote bushy new growth.
• Start to regularly spray roses that are vulnerable to disease, I always alternate between different sprays so they don’t have a chance to build up a resistance against it.
• Start sowing salad crops at regular 3-4 week intervals to ensure a regular supply for picking.
• Tidy up hedges, but before you start cutting make sure no birds are nesting in them.
• In your greenhouse or tunnel hang yellow sticky traps among plants to catch whitefly and other flying pests.
• Throw sheets of fleece over fruit trees on frosty nights to protect blossom.
• If you have a greenhouse, you can now plant tomatoes, melons and pepper plants in big pots or in an instant planter (a fatter type of grow bag).

Spring is here and the plants and trees are all looking hungry after the long winter. Feeding is the key to getting the best displays and crops from your garden. A number of chemical elements are essential for plant growth. Three are required in relatively large amounts, nitrogen for leaf growth, phosphorus for root development and potash for strengthening resistance to disease and poor growing conditions. A general purpose fertilizer like ‘Growmore’ has these elements in roughly equal amounts. Manure or fertilizer? -  the age old argument. Actually, there is nothing to argue about both are vital and neither can be properly replaced by the other. The role of bulky organic matter (farmyard manure, garden compost) is to make the soil structure good enough to support a vigorous and healthy crop. The role of fertilizers is to provide the plants with enough nutrients that they reach their full potential in this soil. In your vegetable garden, one of the most important uses for a general purpose fertilizer is to provide a bass dressing just before sowing or planting. Crops which take some time to mature like purple sprouting broccoli or curly kale will need one or more top dressings during the season. I find it always better to use a liquid seaweed feed on these occasions as the powder or granular feeds can cause scorch damage if applied to the leaves or as a time-saving alternative you can always use a slow release fertilizer to steadily release nutrients into the soil or compost for 6 months. Always read the instructions as every feed is different and if you can choose an organic brand.