Tomorrow we celebrate V-E Day, but sadly not as we had originally intended with a village fete on the Dunsfold Green and a DHHS plant sale. We will have to wait for better times and hope that lockdown restrictions ease enough for some of the nurseries to open up again. They will certainly need our support!
I suspect many of you have been trading plants with friends and neighbours. I know I certainly have and my tomato seedlings have been repaid with glorious little bedding and container plants that are just waiting for warmer evenings. Last year I was too hopeful of their survival and paid the price. If you are interested in swapping plants please let us know and we will try to help.
RHS advice for jobs this month are as follows:
1. Watch out for late frosts and protect tender annuals.
2. Earth up potatoes and promptly plant any remaining.
3. Plant out summer bedding at the end of the month.
4. Water early/late to get the most out of your water, recycle water if possible.
5. Regularly hoe off weeds.
6. Open greenhouse vents and doors on warm days.
7. Mow lawns weekly now.
8. Check for nesting birds prior to hedge pruning.
9. Lift and divide overcrowded daffodils clumps or any spring flowering bulbs.
10. Check for viburnum beetle and lily beetle grubs.
Speaking to the last point, my poor viburnums are looking a little worse for wear and I suspect the dreaded beetle has been at them for weeks, if not months now. I have never managed to do anything about them and just wait for them to get bored and the plants to recover. However, I will be more diligent with the lily beetles, having just managed to success grow my first small group of Lilium Martagon (Turk's Cap Lily) and they are on the cusp of flowering. So excited! My gardening friends tell me the beetles are easy to spot - famous last words I fear.
Enjoying everyone's photos (these have been provided by Richard) so please do send them to me at chairdhhs@gmail.com and let me know if I can share them with everyone else.