Add weeks of colour to your garden with these pretty performers
It’s one of the most exciting times in the garden, as we pack our borders and pots with summer flowers. These bedding plants are ready to transform our plots and fill them with colour. Frosts should be only a memory now so it’s safe to get going with these tender plants.
Begin by changing any spring flowers in patio pots for summer blooms. Take out any bulbs you want to dry off and store, compost the top growth and rejuvenate the growing medium by adding controlled-release fertiliser, topping up the pot with fresh compost. You can then plant up with summer flowers.
In borders, pull up old plants or clear the area and fork it over so it’s ready to plant.
Ideally, sprinkle slug pellets over the soil surface to reduce their numbers, then plant the next day. Pellets protect your plants because resident slugs make a beeline for them when all the weeds are removed.
Sprinkle on some general fertiliser and rake or fork it in before planting. Annuals famously grow in poor soils but will flower better and for longer if given some good nutrition.
Check the heights of your plants, because they can vary hugely, even among one kind of plant, such as sunflowers and cosmos. Most bedding plants can be spaced 20–25cm apart but shorter, edging plants may need closer planting. Ideally choose a dull day for planting and avoid scorching hot days. Make sure they have moist roots before you plant them, then water them in well after you’ve added them.
STEP BY STEP
Shade the greenhouse
In winter and spring we aim to keep the greenhouse as warm and cosy as possible, but at this time of year we need to protect plants by keeping them cool to prevent them being damaged by extreme temperatures. The application of white ‘shading paint’ is the simplest way to do this. Simply mix the powder with water and paint or sponge it on – a washing up sponge is ideal for this. You don’t need to cover all the glass but you can paint stripes. It’s most effective on the south and west sides and is not necessary on the north one. It’s easily removed in autumn on a dry day using a dry cloth.
Remove reverted shoots
Growing variegated plants is an easy and reliable way to bring colour to the garden throughout the year. But many have a tendency to ‘revert’ and produce plain
