Summer brings long days and plenty of sunshine and in your garden, flowers should be bursting into bloom with warmer temperatures and extra sunlight. There should lots to harvest in the vegetable garden, and keeping on top of weeds is a priority. The garden is a glorious display of colour whilst retaining the fresh green of spring. Roses should be in abundance and sweet peas should just be starting to burst into flower. Lift your spirits by taking time to just enjoy the garden and a wander round each morning with a cup of tea to see any new activity is very rewarding!
Make sure taller plants are well supported with stakes so that as they grow the supports are more disguised with new growth.
Continue to give your pots a good feed to supply them with nutrients to allow them to flourish; either a generic plant food or Seaweed Extract is excellent. Any green-leafed plants looking lacklustre will benefit from a fertiliser with a high nitrogen (N) content, as nitrogen is crucial for chlorophyll production and overall leaf development. Alongside continuing to deadhead flowers to prolong their flowering period, you can prune your lavender once flowering is over to maintain a compact, bushy shape but avoid cutting back too far into old wood. This is also the time to prune rambling roses by removing up to a third of stems that have flowered and tie the rest to supports. If you enjoy taking cuttings, you can start by taking some cuttings of your lavender and woody herbs to produce more plants for next year.
Our teams working on our Growing Together project in local schools have been busy working with pupils on a weekly basis.
A special thanks must go to Tony Athill who, with the help of his brother Francis spent all Easter holiday building a replacement Greenhouse from scratch for Mengham Junior school. With recycling in mind, most of the materials used were repurposed from what was at hand. Well done to Tony as it looks amazing! The unveiling of the new Greenhouse will be celebrated once all the final touches put in place. Growing Together are asking for volunteers for the various groups on the Island, so if you are interested please contact admin@hihs.org.uk
We have persuaded some of our members to open their gardens this year and whilst this is a member only event, annual membership is only £7. Full details can be found on our facebook page and website and the dates are Wednesday 2nd, Saturday 12th and Saturday 19th July from 2-4 pm. Most the gardens are small but interesting, and refreshments will be available so do come along. Members welcome free and non-members just need to pay £7 to join!
Full details about the society and future events can be found on our website www.hihs.org.uk or Facebook page.