Pretty Pansy faces

One of plants that plant breeders have greatly improved on over the past years are ,Pansies ,especially Winter Pansies. The colour range is fantastic and they just seem to go on and on. Planted at this time in the Autumn, their sunny little faces will shine and delight all through the dark days of winter […]

One of the most satisfying jobs that can be done at this time of year is the planting of soft fruit bushes. The phrase, Soft Fruit, mean those fruits generally grown in the garden such as raspberries, black currents and gooseberries, to name just a few. Once planted, the fruit bushes will quickly get established […]

Compost Heap

At this time of year the a well rotted compost heap is a real asset to the garden.It has many uses,from incorporating into the soil of  the veg garden  or  when planting trees and shrubs. For improving the soil and helping plants grow,it is far better than any thing that can be got from a […]

Mistletoe excitement

I was excited yesterday (It doesn’t take much )  to discover that the mistletoe (Viscum album) berries that I had stuck onto the branches of my Bramley   apple tree three years ago had actual germinated and were now beginning  to grow into small mistletoe plants. The best time to stick the berries onto a branch is in February/March time as […]

Wallflowers

Jasper our resident garden expert at Averys Garden Centre recommends that you plant your wallflowers now. At Averys we sell them lose in bundles of 10/12. The most popular varieties are Persian carpet mixed ( beloved by parks departments ) or the smaller dwarf bedder mix. Plant then approx 12 inches apart and firm them in  ,to […]

Sunflower Heads

After a wonderful show this year, most sunflower heads have now set seed and beginning to dry out, making it an ideal  time of year to cut them  down , leaving about 6inches of stalk and them putting them into a dry place, such as a greenhouse or a  garden shed to  store . The seed could be […]

Hardy Banana

To create that tropical look and really impress your gardening friends  find a sheltered sunny spot in the garden and grow a hardy Japanese banana (Musa basjoo) They will in the right conditions grow to approx. 12ft and will produce bunches of small bananas, which unfortunately are not edible. The time to plant them is in […]

Tomatoes

Tomato plants should be growing strongly at this time of year and need to be fed at lest once a week with a tomato fertilizer which encourages new fruit and to ripen off the existing fruit . A fertilizer high in Nitrogen, which encourages green growth should not be used. Instead  use one high in Potash  such […]

Planted Hanging pots

Planted up hanging pots are really easy to do and look after. Using a good multi-purpose compost and approximately five hanging basket plants, which cascade over the side, will result in a flower display to rival the best. Two main plants, planted, as the main plants, such as an Ivy geranium and a Pendulous Begonia, along with some fillers […]

Wisteria in Flower

Wisterias are wonderful, scented, climbing plants, which can grace a wall ,climb a pergola (as is ours) or if it’s one of the Chinese species of wisterias, climb up trees, to reach the sun 90ft above the ground. They like  full sun and with our one at Averys we spur back the lateral growths in the […]