Streamside News…Summer ‘21
STREAMSIDE MEMBERSHIP BOOMING...
We are delighted to welcome increasingly more members to Streamside from both “regular, experienced” gardeners, and also from many people who have only recently discovered the joy and life-enhancement that tending your outside space (regardless of its size) can bring. Please do mention us to your family and friends, we really do offer great value with the majority of members recouping their £2.00 annual membership in their first purchase. We’re open each Sunday morning 0945hrs – 1215hrs from February to the end of October.
Check out our latest price comparison below, your annual membership cost of £2.00 is a good investment!
British Garden Centres
Homebase
Streamside Horticultural Association
Minimum
Saving
2.1 (7 foot) canes x 10
£5.75
£5.45
£4.20
£1.25
23%
Fish, Blood & Bone
£6.99 (4 kg)
(£1.74 per kg)
£7.95 (4kg)
(1.98 per kg)
£2.90 (3 kg)
(£0.97 per kg
£0.77
44%
Sunflower Hearts
£14.99 (4kg)
(3.75 per kg)
£8.95 (4kg)
(£2.24 per kg)
£1.20 (1 kg)
£1.24 per kg
55%
Stainless Steel Hand Trowel
£9.99
£7.95
£4.60
£3.35
42%
Think about your lawn differently?....
Traditionally a beautifully manicured weed-free lawn, perhaps with impressive green stripes, was something to which most gardeners aspired but over recent years attitudes have changed. There is now a real focus on attracting wildlife into your garden, and by altering your approach to your lawn there are ways you can do this.
There are a number of things you can do when mowing your lawn to help encourage garden wildlife which includes hedgehogs, insects and birds. For example, it's important not to pull out all of the dandelions in your lawn because they are great sources of nectar for bees.
1. Keep a variety of lengths
Variation is important for garden wildlife. Shorn lawns are not necessarily bad for wildlife but this is only if there are areas of other vegetation nearby like beds, vegetable plots, soft fruit bushes, borders or ponds. Broad swaths of shorn grass can become what is called a 'green desert' for the many insects, spiders and other invertebrates that feed birds, mammals, amphibians and, if you are very lucky, reptiles. Don't mow all of your lawn if you don't need to. Choose an area to keep neat and tidy but let other patches embrace wildness.
2. Create mown paths
Allowing at least some of the grass to grow tall, perhaps with mown paths through the taller areas, is highly beneficial to wildlife and brings advantages to gardeners too. A rich garden ecosystem can keep pests under control naturally.
Birds, hedgehogs, shrews, mice, toads and slow-worms shelter by day in beds and borders where they keep down slugs, weevils and other pests. Longer grass near ponds shelters froglets and other young amphibians as they disperse in summer.
3. Make hay while the sun (still) shines
Allowing cut lawn to turn into hay is great for seed-eating birds. After any wildflowers have finished in late summer, mowing restores the grass, with perhaps another mowing before winter to prevent tussocks. Leave the summer mown grass in place for a few sunny days to become 'hay' and release seeds to refresh the lawn for next year and also provide food for seed-eating birds and other wildlife. The 'hay' can then be removed and composted.
3. Compost grass clippings
Removing and composting all grass mowings also supports wildlife by reducing soil fertility. Running down fertility, assuming no fertiliser is applied, leads to turf becoming more sparse which allows room for wildflowers, particularly clovers, and wildlife.
5. Leave some weeds in place
Lawn weeds – like daisies, clovers and plantains – support wildlife and, being very flat, are passed over by the mower. Don't make an extra effort to eradicate them if the mower misses them.
Weedkiller and lawn fertiliser are often used to eliminate them but, as with mowing, there are advantages to letting at least some weeds grow and refrain from weed-killing and feeding less prominent areas of the lawn.
SEASONAL RECIPES….
Tabbouleh serves 4
Ingredients
· 400 ml vegetable stock
· 250g bulgar wheat
· 3 tomatoes diced
· 1 cucumber cored and diced
· Large bunches of mint, parsley and spring onions
· 1 tsp cumin
· Juice of 1 lemon
· 100g mixed olives
· 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Method
1. Heat stock in a pan and place the bulgar wheat in a heatproof bowl.
2. Add the stock to the wheat and leave for 20-30 minutes until all the stock is absorbed.
3. Place the soaked bulgar wheat in a large mixing bowl, and add the cucumber, herbs and tomatoes. Toss well before adding the cumin, lemon juice, olives and olive oil. Season and serve.
SOME TASKS TO DO IN YOUR GARDEN THIS SEASON
June
Fruit and Veg
Pinch out tomato side shoots and tie in cordons securely.
Sow French bean seeds for a continual supply.
Plant out outdoor crops such as cabbages.
Remove strawberry runners unless you plan to propagate them.
Sow beetroot, carrots, chard, courgettes, runner beans, lettuces and spinach.
Tie in long shoots of blackberries and their hybrids onto a frame of horizontal wire supports.
Cover ripening soft fruit with netting to protect from birds.
Keep rows of onions well watered when the weather is dry.
Earth up soil around potato stems to get a bigger crop.
Look out for blackfly on plants such as broad beans, herbs and spinach, and pinch off affected plant parts to stop the infestation taking over.
Pick herbs such as basil regularly to encourage more growth from the plants.
Prune fan-trained apple or pear trees.
Tie in new raspberry canes onto support wires using twine.
Cover brassicas with nets to protect against pigeons.
Plant out sweetcorn in blocks to ensure a good crop of cobs.
Flowers
Trim box hedges in dry weather, checking for any birds’ nests first.
Deadhead roses regularly so that all the energy goes into making new blooms.
Remove between a third and half of the height of hellenium, rudbeckia, sedum and delphinium to make plants sturdier and stockier with more flowering side shoots.
Plant out tender flowers such as zinnias, lantana, dahlias and lemon verbena now that frosts
are over.
Train climbing roses by tying down vertical shoots horizontally to get more flowers.
Cut back spring flowering clematis if they need it now.
Plant out potted lilies and cannas into enriched soil.
Dip up and dry off spent tulip and hyacinth bulbs when the foliage dies off.
Sow fast-growing annuals for an autumnal display.
Cut back any perennials that have already flowered.
Deadhead rhododendrons making sure you have destroyed any buds with bud blast.
Plant out tender bedding to fill gaps in the border.
Tie in stems of sweet peas as they develop loosely to supports with string.
Support hardy perennial flower stems before they get too heavy and flop to the ground or are blown over by the wind.
Miscellaneous
Hoe beds regularly when it’s dry and sunny.
Ensure your lawn is well watered especially if it’s new.
Edge the lawn to give it a speedy makeover.
July
Fruit and Veg
Earth up brassicas to help them stay upright..
Harvest and store garlic when the foliage has turned yellow.
Take cuttings of herbs such as rosemary and sage now the first flowering is over.
Sprinkle some granular fertiliser on your vegetable patch to keep your crops productive.
Harvest annual herbs regularly to keep them bushy and stop them running to seed.
Prune currant bushes removing any new growth that is crowding the centre of the bush.
Pick beans frequently to keep them cropping.
Sow main-crop carrots, spring cabbages, oriental leaves, endives and winter radishes.
Pinch out the shoots tips of fig trees.
Clip side shoots on formal bay plants to maintain their shape.
Cut back tomato plants when they have made three to five fruit trusses.
Fold the leaves over cauliflower curds to stop them scorching.
Spray potatoes and outdoor tomatoes against blight.
Sow beetroot, calabrese, and salad onions.
After fruiting, cut off the leaves from strawberry plants, water and weed around them.
Continue training climbing ve and fruit such as hybrid berries and apple espaliers.
Sow kohlrabi into shallow drills
Flowers
Pick sweet peas every 10 days or so to encourage more blooms.
Look for the conical spent flowers on dahlias and deadhead them.
Remove dead, damaged, diseased and unproductive shoots from rambling roses when blooming ends.
Summer prune wisteria but cutting back the twining shoots to control the growth and encourage more flowering wood.
Start dividing congested clumps of bearded irises.
Take penstemon cuttings now and put into gritty compost, keep them humid while they root.
Move seedlings of early summer flowering plants such a aquilegia into pots to grow them into strong flowering plants for next year.
Cut back early herbaceous perennials after flowering..
Apply granular feed to roses then water in.
Remove side-shoots from standard plants such as fuchsias.
Mow wildflower meadows after the ripe seeds have been shed.
Feed plants in hanging baskets and patio pots.
Mulch perennials with compost to keep soil damp.
Remove all green shoots from variegated shrubs.
Miscellaneous
Top up pond water if the level drops using water from a butt if possible.
Check that automatic watering lines are working and debris is not preventing water flow.
August
Fruit and veg
Tie pumpkins and squashes in regularly if growing on supports
Keep picking cut and come again salad leaves.
Cut off and throw away blighted potato tops do not add to the compost heap.
Harvest herbs and preserve them for winter by drying or freezing.
Draw a plan of your plot ready to move crops around next year.
Crop and dry onions for storage – use any damaged ones immediately.
Thin out crowded rows of salad leaf and other seedlings.
Regularly pick biennial herbs such as parsley.
Pull up annual herbs that have run to seed.
Remove old and yellow tomato leaves to ripen fruit and assist air circulation.
After fruiting cut out old canes of summer fruiting raspberries.
Start harvesting autumn cabbages and baby leeks.
Sow oriental and winter salad leaves.
Water trees that are growing against walls.
Water potatoes well in dry spells to prevent tubers splitting.
Cut back peach and nectarine trees to promote new growth.
Check aubergine fruits regularly so you can pick them the moment they are ripe.
Pick over sugar snap peas and mangetouts every few days, to catch pods while still young, tender and sweet.
Cover carrots with fleece to keep carrot flies away.
Thin out over crowded pear fruits to ensure a good crop.
Plant new strawberry plants into pots of potting compost or into a weed-free bed for a crop next summer.
Dig green manure into the soil before it flowers.
Flowers
Trim new growth of pyracantha back to near the berries and compost your trimmings.
Prune lavender to maintain its shape.
Transplant wallflowers to encourage further root development.
Take softwood cuttings of fushcias and pelargoniums to overwinter the plants
Start forcing prepared hyacinth bulbs for winter.
Sow spring flowering pots plants like salpiglossis.
Plant freesia corms in pots for winter flowers.
Harvest flowers for drying such as paper daisies.
Propagate clematis by layering low-shoots.
Collect ripening seeds from perennials.
Keep camellias well watered in dry spells to help buds form.
Water cyclamen to start the corms into growth.
Cut back old flower stems on lady’s mantle to prevent it self-seeding.
Pick bulbils off lily stems and pot up to get new plants.
Take cuttings from hybrid tea, floribunda and shrub roses.
Let light into hedges by cutting the base wider than the top.
Cut off all seedpods you see on sweet peas.
Miscellaneous
Look for groups of snails in dark corners. Re-home or dispose of them.
Remove dead and dying foliage and flowers from your pond quickly.
Open the windows on sunny days to ventilate the greenhouse.
The Autumn newsletter will be available end of August/beginning of September.