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Gardening Teacher Tip

by Plews Garden Design

Helpful gardening tips from an experienced garden teacher
For more on bespoke gardening lessons in your own garden check out Plews website

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Look out for Lily Beetles! 👀 👀 👀 Lily beetles (Lilioceris lilii) are not native to the UK but have now become widespread across most of the country. As garden pests Lily beetles are stunning to look at with a bright red wing cases and black

Is it worth sowing those older seeds you found at the back of the shelf? If you’re not sure, it is fairly simple to test for viability before seed sowing. This method doesn’t work with all seeds, but will give you an idea as to whether it’s worth sowing t

? You may think the answer is obvious, but it does stump many new gardeners. A perennial is a plant which survives for three years or more. Generally speaking, we use a lot of perennials in ornamental and flower gardens, but fewer in the vegetable plo

Did you store your dahlia tubers over winter? 🌻 🌻 🌻 Go and check on them. If they’re soft, but not diseased, throw them onto the compost heap (waste not want not!) But if they’ve started to sprout – • bring them into a light,

“Are soft fruits the same as bush fruits?” 🍓🍓 🍓🍓 This question came up recently and it occurred to me that a few of you might welcome the answer I gave my student! There is often confusion over the terms ‘bush f

Have you started sowing seeds? 🌱 🌱 🌱 I hope you have opened new bags of potting compost, bought fresh or mixed your own. Why? Because although it is tempting to use those left over bags from last summer, it’s a false economy. Yo

How are we at the end of January ❓❔❔❓❓❔ There's so much we meant to do in the garden this month! Panic not - there is always time. Agreed, sometimes that will make it a gardening task fo

Winter pruning problems – frosty gardens ❄️✂️❄️❄️ Thought answering a question that regularly comes up in gardening lessons may help more of you than I can get out to teach in person 😊 Q Can I prune when its frosty

Are there any apples, pears, plums or cherries still hanging on your fruit trees? 🍏🍎 They probably look ‘mummified’. You need to remove all these fruits that you find as the shrivelled fruits as they have brown rot and if left on the tre

Winter Solstice & Your Garden 🌞🌞🌞 A quick reminder to all my gardening students to take photos of their gardens on Wednesday, the Winter Solstice, at dawn, noon and dusk. (Or as early as you can once its light eno

Have you over-indulged in the seed buying spree, lured on by bargains? 🌱 🌱 🌱 And you’re now wondering how to organise the unopened seed packets you’ve now found, let alone the new ones due any day? Panic not! Try one of these ti

How to overwinter tender herbaceous perennials 🌾 A brief gardening lesson on herbaceous Perennials from warmer climates. Namely those such as Pelargoniums, aka pot geraniums, Plectranthus, Pineapple Sage (in pic), that you have in pots in the

What is top soil and why is it important? 👩‍🌾 👩‍🌾 👩 ‍🌾 Soil is probably the most important element of successfully growing any plants, be those ornamental flowering shrubs or rows of cabbages. All soil

Is it too late to plant bulbs for spring? 🌾 🌾 🌾 It is common to hear panic in new gardeners’ voices when they ask if it’s too late – or too early - to plant spring flowering bulbs. And this is perfectly understandable w

What are Herbaceous Perennials? 👩‍🌾 🌼🌼🌼 👨‍🌾 Herbaceous perennials are plants which survives for many years. I suggest to my gardening students that its probably easier to only consider the ornament

How to tell if your apples are ripe for picking 🍏🍎 🍏🍎 Firstly, depending on the variety apples will be ready for picking from mid-August through to mid-October. If you don’t know the variety for a general clue as to whi

◦•●◉✿ A reminder to all my Gardening Students and to anyone else who is curious about their garden ✿◉●•◦ Taking a couple of long shots of your garden at dawn, noon and dusk at the Autumn Equinox next week will show you which parts of the garden get direct

In case you thought it was too late in the year to take softwood cuttings of pelargoniums it isn’t. Make sure you take the cuttings from non-flowering stems, and, of course, cut just below a bud. Tidy up the stem on the plant by cutting off the bit betwee

Collecting seeds from your garden 🌱🌻 🌱🌻 🌱🌻 Many of us find this a very satisfying occupation Although some gardeners, especially those new to gardening, worry about knowing when the seeds are ripe f

Strawberry runners propagation 🍓🍓 How to grow more Strawberries – by propagating them from the strawberry plants you already have. You may already know this, but I have an extra garden teacher tip to make your life easier 😀

Watering Tips for holidays and heatwaves 💦💦💦 Whether you have tomatoes in the greenhouse plants, pots on the patio, houseplants, or just plants in pots for no particular reason, keeping them at the correct hydration lev

Cook your vegetables as they grow? Well, not quite! However, vegetable cooking water contains nutrients. Save this cooking water, straining it first to remove food residue. Once the cooking liquid is cool, you can use it to water your container grown veg

◦•●◉✿ A reminder to all my Gardening Students - and to anyone else who is curious about their garden… ✿◉●•◦ Taking a few long shots of your garden at dawn, noon and dusk at the Summer Solstice tomorrow will show you which parts of the garden get direct su

How acid or alkaline is your soil? And why does it matter? To know whether you have acid soil or alkaline soil in your garden soil is valuable in helping you learn more about which plants will grow well in the soil you have. The crucial point about the ac