Jobs to do on the allotment, in the greenhouse and all around the garden with Nick and Sue Hamilton from Barnsdale Gardens
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| Sue removes faded blooms to encourage further flowering
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'Water all plants daily. For an added boost, hang a net bag filled with comfrey leaves (high in nitrogen) in your water butt.'
Jobs to do around the garden
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| Prune back lilac once flowering is over
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CHOISYA: Cut off any frost-damaged tips.
CLIMBERS: Tie in those that have started to grow away from their supports.
COMPOST HEAPS: Turn them to ensure even decomposition.
CONTAINERS: Put up hanging baskets and place pots outside filled with summer-bedding plants and tender perennials.
DAFFODILS: Remove any remaining old stems that have turned brown.
FEEDING: Feed and water flowering plants with a high-potash seaweed feed (deadhead them also).
FRUIT: Pinch out the growing tips of cherries, peaches and plums. Prune grape vines to two leaves beyond the last truss of grapes.
HEDGES: We clip box (
Buxus) hedging.
LAWNS: Edge, mow and strim. Mow weekly if the grass is growing.
PENSTEMON: Cut back plants that you have overwintered indoors.
PERENNIALS: Deadhead and remove flowering stems from perennials including
Euphorbia robbiae (watch the irritant sap), hellebores,
Iris sibirica, lupins,
Persicaria bistorta 'Superba', poppies (
Papaver) and roses, once they have finished flowering. Divide overgrown clumps of spring-flowering perennials, such as
Pulmonaria. Stake any tall perennials that need it as you come across them.
POND WEEDS: Thin out blanket weed and any other invasive plant growth in ponds.
PRUNING: Continue to prune spring-flowering shrubs in need of a tidy, and if they have finished flowering, such as
Choisya,
Cytisus,
Kolwitzia, lilac (
Syringa),
Philadelphus,
Rhododendron and
Weigela. Some flower for longer.
SHREDDING: We do this on wet days.
SUCKERS: Remove from
Prunus, roses and
Sorbus.
TENDER PERENNIALS: Plant out argyranthemums, cannas, dahlias, fuchsias, osteospermums and pelargoniums.
TRAILING PLANTS: Cut back trailing plants, such as
Arabis and
Aubrieta, when they have finished flowering.
VARIEGATED PLANTS: Remove all-green shoots or they will take over.
WATERING: Throughout the month water any newly planted areas during dry spells.
Jobs to do in the greenhouse
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| Transplant peppers into larger containers
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DAMPING DOWN: Damp down floors in the morning, water plants regularly now and ventilate when it is warm.
DEADHEADING: Deadhead greenhouse and conservatory plants as needed.
MELONS: Check regularly for new flowers and fertilise female flowers when necessary.
PESTS: Check for pests regularly. Spray infestations of aphids with soft soap solution every third day until all signs of them have gone.
POTTING ON: Transplant aubergine and peppers into their final 5-litre pots and place them in their growing positions; pot on cucumbers, melons and tomatoes into their final pots. We pot on tomato 'Tumbler' into 3-litre pots, and cape gooseberry, celeriac 'Monarch', lettuces 'All The Year Round', 'Fristina' and 'Lollo Rossa' and microplants of Potato 'Salad Blue' into 8cm (3in) pots.
PRICKING OUT: We prick out broccoli 'Rudolph' and 'White Sprouting', coriander 'Elless', dill, fennel 'Zefa Fino', lettuces 'Challenge', 'Mixed' and 'Sentry' and nasturtiums 'Alaska' and 'Tip Top Scarlet' into 8cm (3in) pots.
SOWING: We sow leeks 'Bulgarian Giant', 'King Richard' and 'Musselburgh', and lettuces 'Blush', 'Granada' and 'Valdor' into trays.
TENDER PERENNIALS: Move all tender perennials from the greenhouse outside during the day, to harden off before planting out..
WATERING Water all plants daily. For an added boost, hang a net bag filled with comfrey leaves (high in nitrogen) in your water butt.
Jobs to do on the allotment
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| Pot on tomatoes into 10-litre pots
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BEANS: At Barnsdale we plant climbing French beans in the Elizabethan vegetable garden and gentleman's cottage garden; French bean 'Purple Queen' in the artisan's cottage garden; French beans and runner bean 'White Swan' in the parterre; and runner bean 'Celebration' in the reclaimed garden.
CANE SUPPORTS: We use cane supports to train climbing French bean 'Cobra', and we train runner bean 'Celebration' up a fence.
DEADHEAD: Deadhead marigolds used as companion plants, and plant more as necessary.
DIGGING: Dig over ground vacated by first early potatoes once they have been lifted.
DIRECT SOW: Direct sow carrots 'Amini' and 'Ideal'; and radishes 'Cherry Belle', 'French Breakfast' and 'Scarlet Globe'.
FRAMES: Remove frames covered with protective netting from cabbages such as 'Golden Acre Primo'.
FRUIT: Tie in and pinch out shoots on all fence- and wall-trained cherries and plums and thin out the fruit. Tie in any raspberry canes that have come loose and pick over these and other fruit bushes (blackcurrants, gooseberries, loganberries and redcurrants) on a regular basis.
HARVESTING: Now's the time for our final harvest of asparagus from the Elizabethan vegetable garden. We also harvest multi-sown beetroot.
LEEKS: Dig a trench to plant leek seedlings at the bottom. You can refill the trench slowly as the plants develop.
PLANTING OUT: We plant out Brussels sprout 'Peer Gynt', 'Montgomery' and 'Red Delicious', cabbage 'Red Jewel', courgette 'Orelia', garlic 'Solent White', peas, squash, sweetcorn in blocks and tomato 'Ailsa Craig'.
POLYTHENE TUNNEL: After potting tomatoes into their final 10-litre pots, we place the plants into their final growing positions in the polythene tunnel.
STAKING: Stake sweet peas.
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| Train French beans up bamboo canes
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THINNING OUT: Thin out lettuces and turnips as they become crowded Most thinnings can be eaten.
WEEDING: Hoe and weed regularly through all areas to prevent weeds going to seed.
Look further
Barnsdale Gardens in Rutland, Leicestershire, are the creation of the late Geoff Hamilton who was much loved by the public as a gardener and TV presenter during his lifetime. Today, Barnsdale Gardens continues to thrive and win awards in the hands of Geoff's son Nick, together with Nick's wife Sue. The gardens, shop and nursery are open to the public every day except 22 and 25 December, and sell a selection of Barnsdale-themed and other garden products online.
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