What a great summer so far, heat and rain when needed what more could a Gardener ask for.
Some of my roses are suffering badly from rust from on leaves this year. some roses are always going to be more susceptible to rust attack and I feel these roses succumb when they become distressed between watering's. I continue to remove rust effected leaves when time allows rather then spray with a fungicide . I don't use sprinklers late in the day if overcast, wet leaves going into warm nights encourages mildew. Deep watering around the roots is what I recommend to keep fungus at bay. Remove all diseased leaves from the bush and ground around roots and add compost plus blood and bone or slow release fertiliser, with continuous blooming roses zap nitrogen from the ground. Continue dead heading roses and give then a summer prune. cut a spent flower stem down to an out facing bud on a thick, strong part of stem.
So many plants require cutting back now, my wheel barrow is on the go most days filling up in no time with cut back lupins,munkshood, mignonette, nasturtiums, iris, buddleia and delphiniums to name a few. I have just cut back acanthus mollis known sometimes as (Bears britches) or (The oyster plant), I grow a lot of this plant which flops all over the place now in the heat. I cut them well back because it will not take long before new leaves regrow for autumn and winter.
My hydrangea's are wonderful right now, big healthy leaves and large full blooms, and I guess because of the frequent rains the colours are very intense. Petunias are taking center stage now, they are great gap fillers for sunny gardens, but do not preform well in shade. A shady spot can be filled with impatiens which are also colourful when planted in bold groups.
Dead heading rhododendrons is really boring and time consuming but worth doing on newly planted bushes to encourage growth into the bush not into making seeds, there is a point where the spent flower seed heads break off cleanly without disturbing the new growth shoots at the sides, once you start you will find that break off point. I have started seed collecting, sweet peas, sweet William, poppies, iris, there is a lot of ripening going on and I have a lot of small paper bags stored away already. Get stakes in around Chrysanthemums now before they get too tall. Tip cuttings can be taken from chrysanthemums now, I find they root well in river sand.Chrysanthemums flower in Autumn.
I removed most of the new, wild growth from the wisteria growing in front of our house last week. Wisterias put out a heap of unneeded growth after they have flowered, if your wisteria is covering what it is supposed to all long wispy growth should be removed. if left they will twine and become new branches.
Lawns: I was out with the lawn fertiliser when heavy rain and see the weeds have been fed as well so will need to spot spray again, it's never ending when lawns need to look good.
Fruit and Veg. Goosberries cropped well this season and pots of black current jam have been made and some bagged and in the freezer for winter pies. Cut off the fruiting branches and then remove the currents in a more comfortable place than bending over the bushes, this way you prune at the same time.
The vegetable garden is doing fine, seeds are popping up in no time after sowing, lettuces, potatoes and tomatoes have been worth the effort and my corn and pumpkins are putting on good growth now but I find myself telling the pumpkins to hurry up as they and corn need a long hot ripening season. Tomatoes are doing well with all the sunny days, keep glass houses moist through the day because white fly like it dry. Keep planting all veg, seeds and plants (apart from corn and pumpkin) they should have been started long before now to give them time to ripen.
Cheers, Linda.
