PROPAGATION
Pinks and carnations can become straggly over time, so here’s how to keep them perky and productive
Tidy spring perennials
Give scruffy-looking spring-flowering perennials a tidy. It might seem brutal, but the plants will appreciate you taking shears or secateurs to them, cutting away dying flowers and fading foliage to just above ground level.
They’ll reward you with a fresh flush of leaves in a couple of weeks and possibly a second round of flowers. Feed with liquid seaweed fertiliser afterwards to give plants a boost.
Cut Alchemilla mollis, early geraniums and Oriental poppies back to ground level in June and remove flowering stems of lupins and delphiniums for more blooms.
Don’t forget...
MONITOR GREENHOUSE PLANTS Put up shading and, in hot weather, open greenhouse vents and hose the floor to raise humidity. Check plants’ moisture levels daily and feed regularly.
PLANT OUT BASKETS AND BEDDING Your hanging baskets and containers can safely go outside now. Regularly feed and water them and prune back leggy growth to keep looking neat.
HARVEST LAVENDER Pick lavender in the morning, when the oils are most intense, as soon as half the individual flowers have opened on a stem to use in cooking or craft activities. Lavender is best dried as a bunch with the stems tied or banded together, then hung upside down in a warm, dry place out of direct sunlight.
Dianthus, or pinks, tend to become straggly and less floriferous over time, so taking regular cuttings is agood way to have a supply of fresh, vigorous plants.
Early summer is a good time to do it as there’s plenty of new growth to use as propagation material and the
