Gardening | Jobs for the week with Brian Kidd (Feb 28)

Weather permitting, here is Brian’s weekly list of jobs in the garden.
Wisteria in bloom at Old Place, Amberley. Picture: Malcolm McCluskeyWisteria in bloom at Old Place, Amberley. Picture: Malcolm McCluskey
Wisteria in bloom at Old Place, Amberley. Picture: Malcolm McCluskey

• Have you started pruning your roses? They can be pruned any time from now until the middle of March. Don’t prune ‘shrub roses’. These are done in summer as soon as the flowers fade.

• This is the ideal time to prune wisteria. Leave all the thick stems but every side shoot must be pruned back leaving just three buds on all the stems. After pruning, the main branches may be rearranged if necessary.

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• Try to get hold of sprays of hazel to support garden peas. If not, buy some wire netting but ensure you buy the wire at the right height for the peas you intend to grow.

• Sow seeds in the greenhouse of salvias and asters in a plant propagator.

• You should prune all types of clematis now. If you don’t know how to do this, look to see where there are green buds swelling and cut back to just above those buds. If the buds are not showing signs of swelling, don’t worry, simply leave the pruning until a bit later.

• Remove lower leaves on spring cabbages if they are yellow or brown and give the plants ONLY five pellets of Nitro Chalk fertiliser each. This will reduce the possibility of bolting – bolting means the cabbages don’t produce a nice heart of green in the centre; the tips run up to flower.

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• Try to get any shrubs you need to move from one part of the garden to another planted as soon as possible. Choose a pleasant day.

• Look for packs of hosta, phlox and astilbe in popular chain stores. There are some bargains at this time of year.

• Buy a few gladioli corms each week. We will be planting them outdoors in only four weeks’ time. Spring is

coming!

• Water indoor plants more often but check to ensure the compost is on the dry side before watering.Over-watering kills more plants than any disease.

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• Sweet peas grown in the greenhouse should have had the tips removed and now is the time to harden them off outside.

• Watch out for whitefly in the greenhouse. Buy yellow sticky cards, place them above the tops of the plants. Give the plants a shake and the whitefly will fly on to the sticky surfaces.

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