Pete’s Topical tips
Tulips should have died down by now are are better lifted and dried off ready to be planted again in October or early November. If you want a filler for them, forget-me-nots are great. They also look good underplanted in rose beds. Lupins will flower again in August and September if you cut all the old flower spikes off – this also applies to delphiniums.
Most vegetables will have been sown by now but carrots, beet, French beans, and lettuce will give you a late crop if sown before the 21 June. If you grow runner beans and courgettes, it is important to keep them picked over, even throwing them on the compost heap if there are too many to eat.
Don’t forget fertilizer. Plants need to eat and you can’t keep taking crops out of the ground without replacing nutrients. When I drive down the track to my allotment plots, I can see the people who will be disappointed with their crops as they don’t feed them.
The cabbage family are gross feeders and a high nitrogen fertilizer is essential. A friend of mine gives his plot a drizzle of nitrogen every six weeks!
Good news for anyone thinking of becoming a member of our Club – the annual membership has just gone down to £5 (from £7.50).
Our next talks is Labour Saving Gardening on July 1 by Phillip Aubrey, former director of Birmingham Botanical Gardens, both subjects which I’m sure you’ll find of interest. Our July trip is an all day Sunday event to Biddulph in Staffordshire, and tickets for Chris Beardshaw are selling like hotcakes, so grab them while you can!
Get planning on what you could enter for the Summer Show on August 15 – whether you’re into craft, photography, home made wine, cakes or jams, there’s a class for you and all the family with over 70 from which to choose. Why not try your hand at our Yummy Scrummy Carrot Cake in Bishampton’s very own bake-off?
We even give you the recipe!
Pick up a schedule from the Village Stores, speak to any committee member, email [email protected] - or just give me a ring.
Pete Chamberlain
www.bishamptongardeningclub.org.uk
Tel: 01386 861438
Committee members: Robert Teasdale, Rosemary Rickard, Sue Ellis, Lesley Miller, Nicki Merrett - and maybe you?
Tulips should have died down by now are are better lifted and dried off ready to be planted again in October or early November. If you want a filler for them, forget-me-nots are great. They also look good underplanted in rose beds. Lupins will flower again in August and September if you cut all the old flower spikes off – this also applies to delphiniums.
Most vegetables will have been sown by now but carrots, beet, French beans, and lettuce will give you a late crop if sown before the 21 June. If you grow runner beans and courgettes, it is important to keep them picked over, even throwing them on the compost heap if there are too many to eat.
Don’t forget fertilizer. Plants need to eat and you can’t keep taking crops out of the ground without replacing nutrients. When I drive down the track to my allotment plots, I can see the people who will be disappointed with their crops as they don’t feed them.
The cabbage family are gross feeders and a high nitrogen fertilizer is essential. A friend of mine gives his plot a drizzle of nitrogen every six weeks!
Good news for anyone thinking of becoming a member of our Club – the annual membership has just gone down to £5 (from £7.50).
Our next talks is Labour Saving Gardening on July 1 by Phillip Aubrey, former director of Birmingham Botanical Gardens, both subjects which I’m sure you’ll find of interest. Our July trip is an all day Sunday event to Biddulph in Staffordshire, and tickets for Chris Beardshaw are selling like hotcakes, so grab them while you can!
Get planning on what you could enter for the Summer Show on August 15 – whether you’re into craft, photography, home made wine, cakes or jams, there’s a class for you and all the family with over 70 from which to choose. Why not try your hand at our Yummy Scrummy Carrot Cake in Bishampton’s very own bake-off?
We even give you the recipe!
Pick up a schedule from the Village Stores, speak to any committee member, email [email protected] - or just give me a ring.
Pete Chamberlain
www.bishamptongardeningclub.org.uk
Tel: 01386 861438
Committee members: Robert Teasdale, Rosemary Rickard, Sue Ellis, Lesley Miller, Nicki Merrett - and maybe you?