Fruit for Thought. Plant Your Fruit Now for Next Year.

Yes we should plant fruit now and obviously the rest of your garden. The reason is we want to give the roots the best opportunity to establish before it's the growing season next year. 

What do you know about pollinating, pruning, interesting fruit like mulberry, quince and medlars and generally growing well for free? 

The soil is now moist and still warm giving shrubs, perennials, trees and fruit the optimum chance of getting deep in the ground before we have winter dormancy. When plants get their roots in the ground, they are stronger and less vulnerable to the extremes we are getting. Hot dry or very wet weather impacts most on the shallower levels of the soil.

 

A Down to Earth Talk

on Saturday 24th October

Growing fruit for beginners – including fruit trees and soft fruit

Simple Hardy Autumn Winter Container Combinations

W I N T E R  H A R D Y  P O T S

Planted pots and containers are something we specialise in, and while we would love to plant them for you there is no reason why you can't have a go. These are just a small selection of hardy plants that can be combined to make  winter containers.

Hardy Autumn Winter Containers

 

H A R D Y  C O N T A I N E R  I D E A R S

Y O U  W I L L  L O V E

Every season we reserve one of the tunnels for seasonal interest perfect for pots and containers. There is a myth that the winter is dull. It is a myth. The colour may not be flower dependant though there is no shortage of flower with violas and hellebores, cyclamen and bellis to highlight a few.

The Scary Pumpkin Season

 

The season of scary pumpkins is fast approaching and Ali is on in it, in the shop. This year she has excelled in her creative choices. Am I terrified? No, its lovely. We have autumn pumpkin fever and it is tastefully done of course!

You may like a little field mouse or a cute stone hedgehog or just a bit of burning autumn bronze colour.

New Season Autumn Winter Violas

Violas have more flowers than pansies

It is Time to Start Planting Spring Bulbs for 100 Days of Colour

S P R I N G  B U L B  P L A N T I N G

L A S A G N E   P L A N T I N G   W O R K S H O P  Sat 10th Oct

It is a new season and we have a sweet shop of Prinz bulbs and this is the time to start choosing and planting them for next spring and possibly a few for Christmas! You can have 100 days of flower.

How To Make A Resilient Garden

 

The most topical garden subject right now is resilience. What will survive in your garden in the extreme climatic conditions we are experiencing. We may have had a prolonged drought and heatwave, but it is not as simple as planting Mediterranean gardens plants. Do you remember 2024 was unbelievable wet?

Booking Talks and Workshops is Easy

 Garden and Tipi Events can all be booked on our website. This includes creative workshops and comedy in the Tipi. 

BOOK EVENTS

Talks For Garden Clubs and Societies

We are happy to hold seasonal talks and workshops here at the Nurseries for groups such as garden clubs and societies. We are able to offer afternoon talks on Tuesdays, Wednesday or Thursday. Generally comencing1.30-2 pm. Refreshments are included on arrival. Please contact us at shop@thenurseries.com for our scale of charges which vary according to attendees.

September Gardener's Calendar

It is the autumn planting and spring bulb planting season. As we

reach the end of the growing season we have the opportunity to prepare for next years garden by planting, pruning and perhaps rearranging borders. This is more important then every now as we face the challenges of extreme unpredictable climate conditions.

August Gardener's Calendar

Chop back your perennials if you let them go to seed they will not produce a second flush of colour .

Now the soil has had some moisture we can start to think about planting some summer shiners to fill the gaps.

Rose Weekend June 6th and 7th

 

June Gardener's Calendar

June is a month to be enjoying the garden but with a little bit of care and some snipping and deadheading you can keep those flowers going often into late summer

Choosing the Roses for your Garden

David Austin Weekend 6,7th June

Colour Ideas For Summer Pots, Containers and Hanging Baskets.

Take A Look At Some Of The Summer Bedding Colour Combinations 

Pinks, blues and silver tones are one of the most popular colour choices

How To Make A Summer Hanging Basket

Here are some step by step photos of us making up a basket

 

There are different ways of potting up baskets and we don't always follow the same pattern but here is one Peter made up.

 You will need:

Dwarf lilac Syringa meyer Palibin Looking it's Best

Syringa meyeri Palibin

So here are my 2 dwarf lilacs in their full glory. These are in bud and just waiting to flower. This is a much smaller species of lilac that what we are used to but has all the benefits of one of the best shrubs for fragrance. I love this but smaller and daintier shrub.

May Gardener’s Calendar

Here are a few suggestions of what you can be getting on with in the garden this month.

Why we stock Kings Seeds

Unlike other seed companies Kings still farm 325 acres in Essex. They are British and are the last surviving wholesale horticultural seed merchant in the country and have been producing seed since 1888

Top Spring Shrubs Trees And Perennials for Colour Now

These are just some of my favourite flowers that provide spring interest.
So much is bursting into flower after the cold spell and some thing are a little late

Malus blossom (Crab Apple Tree)

A lot of the cherry trees and Amalanchia 's blossom are just opening and the Malus are not yet out, this time last year they were.

Feeding the #Garden in April

Fritillaria meleagris 

• Plant hanging baskets under cover to get established for the end of May.
• Prick out seeds and continue to pot on plugs and rooted cuttings.
• Prune the shrubs that flowered late last year and your hedges.
• Sew main crop vegetables such as carrots ,parsnips etc.
• Plant the main crop potatoes.
• Container grown plants can be planted all year round. So plant now and enjoy this year
• Lime before its too late. It will not be leached out of the soil before the plants start growing. Liming with help heavy cloddy clay soils to form a more crumbly structure
• If you didn’t dig your garden and top with manure ,soil conditioners or some form of organic mater in the Autumn its not too late to get on with it now, it will just be more manual. If you dug it over and exposed the clods to break down over the winter well done.

How to Prune your Garden and when to Pruning

 If It Flowers Before June Don't Prune

*Things that flower before June are flowering on wood or stems produced last year so don't cut them off before its had chance to flower, if you have time to prune it properly. Plants that flower later can have a trim in the early spring because they will flower on new growth later in the year.

What To Plant Now

The perfect time to plant is now. Moist soil and warmer condions help plants root. Get your plants established so you can enjoy many of them this year, particularly the perennials.

Exochordia Is A beautiful Spring Flowering Shrub

Exochordia  xmacrantha, one of my all-time spring favourites it is soon to be absolutely flush with flowers. Otherwise known as the pearl bush.