Latest news with #gardening
The Sun
4 hours ago
- General
- The Sun
I'm a Gardening pro – do these 6 tasks this weekend to fill your outside space with colour plus the time to water plants
WITH June starting tomorrow, it brings the promise of better weather and the longest day – but it can also bring a feeling of mild panic to gardeners. Whether it is worry about having planted enough seeds or what do to with all the overgrown bits, we have got lots of June jobs to get you organised. 5 THE CHELSEA CHOP This cutback is usually done around late May or early June, the same time as the Chelsea Flower Show. It means cutting back your herbaceous perennials — flowers with non-woody stems that come back year after year — by a third. This encourages a second flush of blooms and extends the flowering season. Good plants to practice on include Asters, Echinacea, Phlox, Sedum, Rudbeckia and Helenium. SOW SEEDS As the soil has warmed up, sow your seeds straight into the ground instead of messing around with pots. Broccoli, carrots, swede, beetroot, runner and French beans and sweetcorn can all go in now. Courgette can still be grown in pots for a later harvest. You can also scatter Nigella seeds on the soil for lovely blue flowers later in the season, and plant marigold and nasturtium seeds. WEEDING June is the month in which weeds flourish. A Hori Hori tool, below, is fantastic for getting them out, especially those with long roots. Just spending five minutes getting your hands dirty will make it feel much less tiresome and out of control — and is also good for your mental health. WATERING We have finally had rain but after months of dryness your garden still needs a in the early morning or late evening and avoid sprinkling the water all over the leaves. Concentrate on watering around the roots. BEDDING Fill your gaps with summer bedding but try to protect it from slugs and snails. Lobelia brings a lovely blue while fuchsias and petunias are always good around this time too. LAWNCARE Because it has been dry and warm, you need to raise the cutting level to avoid scorching. If you haven't already, apply a spring/summer lawn feed to provide nutrients for healthy growth. Or you could consider using a weed and feed fertilizer to control weeds while feeding your lawn. Saving tip 5 BE precise in your Chelsea chop with these £42 Niwaki Mainichi Secateurs, top, or cut the price with Burgon & Ball's Flora brite version, below, for £18 from B&Q. Alan is garden chief 5 DAME Mary Berry is stepping down as the president of the National Garden Scheme after ten years – handing the baton to Alan Titchmarsh. The NGS helps gives visitors unique access to more than 3,300 exceptional private gardens in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands. Alan said: 'There is nothing quite like the National Garden Scheme, either in the world of gardens and horticulture or beyond. 'Not only does it offer thoroughly affordable enjoyment and education – while championing the varied gardening skills of the British nation – it also raises and distributes quite extraordinary sums of money.' To find out what National Gardening Scheme gardens are open this month or inquire about opening up your own garden, see Win! WE'VE got a stunning Copper & Green water feature, worth £250, to giveaway. It is handcrafted in the UK using traditional, power-free techniques – and showcases Copper & Green's signature copper lily, cascading bowls and leaves. To enter, visit or write to Sun Copper & Green Competition, Sun PO Box 3190, Colchester, Essex, CO2 8GP. Include your name, age, email or phone. Open to UK residents aged 18+ only. Entries close 11.59pm, June 14, 2025. T&Cs apply. Kate is so rosy 5 B&Q will be the main stockist of Catherine's Rose, bred by Harkness Roses and named after Her Royal Highness, The Princess of Wales. Launching in stores in late September, the rose seeks to raise awareness of the important role that spending time outdoors plays in bringing us joy. Funds from every sale of the rose will go to The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. - JOIN Hever Castle & Garden's historic rose tours – taking place June 23 to July 6. See
Daily Mail
7 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Anyone for gardening? Just don't ask former Wimbledon champion Andy Murray!
Andy Murray and wife Kim have opened up about their love for gardening – although the retired tennis ace has admitted he is hopeless at it. The couple invited gardening supremo Monty Don to their luxury hotel Cromlix, in Dunblane, Perthshire, for a look and explained the work around the property has been inspired by Kim's own love for flowers and plant. But Sir Andy confessed: 'I'm definitely not green fingered and actually I don't even know what that means either. 'I'm assuming it is a gardening term that I should know.' The father-of-four left his wife in stitches with the comments but she later told Mr Don on BBC Gardners' World she aims to get him into gardening having just planted 6,000 tulips around their own estate. She added: 'He was not into art but I got him into art. 'And he noticed my tulips this year. 'Andy has more time in his hands now and he has a very curious mind so I think one day he'll get into it.' Mrs Murray said she was first invited to the Royal Chelsea Flower Show in 2013 when a hosta was named after her husband. She said: 'I was very excited to visit and I received a hosta named Andy Murray and I brought it home and I took great pride in planting it out and it got absolutely decimated by slugs really rapidly.' However, since then she has manged to oversee a kitchen garden at Cromlix which produces cut flowers for the house and ingredients for the kitchen and the bar.
Telegraph
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Doing mushrooms on the Reeves estate
Rachel Reeves has enough on her plate without having to worry about gardening. But the alarm bells have been sounded at the Chancellor's grace-and-favour country pile Dorneywood, which has been gripped by an outbreak of honey fungus. The species of invasive mushrooms have already killed off one birch tree on Reeves's estate; and two nearby beeches could be next. Dorneywood's trustees have now requested permission from the local council to fell them before they cause any more problems. Will this approach to dead wood guide Reeves as she slashes wasteful Whitehall spending in her spending review in 11 days' time? Gary Lineker or crispy duck? Advertising man Malcolm Green is to blame for why former Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker became the face of Walkers crisps. Asked to come up with an ad campaign to revive Leicester-based crisps brand Walkers in the mid-1990s, Green asked Lineker – 'one of Leicester's most famous sons' – to front a 'no more Mr Nice Guy' campaign. However his idea was rejected in favour of a CGI crispy duck. 'When that campaign flopped, we were asked to dust off the Lineker idea and shoot it as a one-off' while another campaign was thought up. 'That 'one-off' went on to become the longest-running ad campaign in Europe,' Green told The Jewish Chronicle. 'Maybe I should have persuaded Walkers to have more faith in that crispy duck? She certainly wouldn't have been as controversial.' Howzat, prayerfully How do cathedral choirs get through the countless sermons they must endure? They play 'sermon cricket', according to new book Evensong – Notes from the Choir by Tim Popple, an alto lay clerk at Bristol cathedral. Under its scoring system a preacher is awarded one run for mentioning God, four runs for Jesus and six for Satan or the Devil. But if the preacher uses the words I or me, a wicket falls. Popple explains: 'The better the score, the more the preacher spoke about faith and less about themselves.' When 10 wickets fall, choristers may feel they are no longer under any obligation to listen. Jenkyns's plunger A live interview with elected Reform UK Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire Dame Andrea Jenkyns to defend her party against charges of 'fantasy economics' was interrupted on GB News this week when her eight-year-old son Clifford burst into her home office to announce that the family lavatory was blocked. The interview with presenter Martin Daubney ended swiftly. Concerned, I got in touch with the ex-Tory MP. 'Was the issue dealt with?' I asked her. 'Yes, I used the plunger,' replied Jenkyns. Room service for Fern! TV presenter Fern Britton is mystified by the current fad for hi-tech hotel rooms. 'They baffle me: All dark lighting, no mirrors – and no three-pin plug sockets anymore. It's all USB ports,' she says. 'I spent a night in a hotel in Manchester. I didn't know how to turn the television down or off, and I couldn't turn the lights out – so I went to bed, wrapped up in a scarf.' We've all been there Fern. Downton and out The third Downton Abbey film – out in September – looks like it will be the last one. 'The clue is in the title: Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale,' Hugh Bonneville, who plays the 7th Earl of Grantham, told an audience at the Goodwoof dog festival at Goodwood House, West Sussex. 'We're all done and dusted. We've had an amazing 15 years.' Perhaps Bonneville can reprise his role as Mr Brown in Paddington The Musical when it opens in the West End in November? 'I won't be singing,' he says, disappointingly. What a shame. Miles better Sports news! After the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow decided to replace the 1,500 metres with the mile, the British Weights and Measures Association – I am an honorary member – wants it to become permanent. Its director John Gardner has written to the organisers pointing out it is the first race over a mile at the Games since 1966, and is 'a tribute to the race in Vancouver in 1954 between Roger Bannister and Australia's John Landy, the only two sub-four-minute runners in the world at the time'. I rather agree.
Daily Mail
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
AMANDA PLATELL: Meghan's bizarre vegetable haul has made me realise something utterly shocking... we are the fools, and she's the Machiavellian mastermind
My eyes were on stalks watching a beatific and spotlessly clean Meghan Sussex in her latest video showing off the 'home-grown' vegetables from the garden at her $29million Californian mansion. With a cute picture of her beagle Mia sniffing the produce she posted: 'The unofficial quality inspector of this morning's garden haul.'
The Sun
11 hours ago
- General
- The Sun
A 5p hack has stopped slugs from ravaging my gorgeous hosta – it's grown huge & they've not eaten a leaf
A GARDENING fans has revealed the 5p hack she used to prevent slugs from ravaging her prized plants. With summer now almost upon us, and temperatures remaining high, gardeners may have noticed the pesky critters nibbling on plants and damaging greenery. 3 3 3 The unwelcome visitors love nibbling on tasty leaves and seedlings, and if you're not careful, could leave you with nothing come harvest season. 'The biggest concern is the emergence of young slugs,' Tom Clamp, head of technical at Doff Portland – a leading manufacturer of premium garden care products said. 'They're particularly hungry and are indiscriminate feeders, meaning they can quickly decimate tender crops like vegetable seedlings, strawberries and bedding plants while potatoes are also vulnerable.' The critters often feed at night, and can consume a whopping 40 times their body weight, often leaving a nasty surprise for gardeners in the morning. However, one gardening fan has shared a simple solution to keep them away from your plants. Posting to the Gardening tips and tricks Facebook, a public group with 21 thousand members, the plant lover beamed: "I've been using the garlic spray this year and so far so good." Attached to the post was a picture of her beloved hostas, looking completely intact and slug free. How to Make Garlic Spray To make your own homemade garlic spray, simply crush some garlic into a paste, and place it into a spray bottle with water. Then, spray it on to your precious plants, and wait for it to work its magic. The pungent odour released by garlic, keeps slugs away and also works for other pests like flies too. Gardeners stunned by £1.50 household item that banishes slugs overnight Garlic is super cheap, and you can pick a bulb up for around 50p, making each clove worth as little as 5p. Other gardening fans flooded the comments section of the post, to share their success with the hack. One person said: "It sure works mine were huge when I last did it." A second person said: "I distract slugs from my plants with cucumber slices dotted around and then go out collect them up and dispose them." Keep pests out all summer IF you want to ensure that your home is pest free this summer, here's what you need to know. Hornets and wasps - hate the smell of peppermint oil so spraying this liberally around your patio or balcony can help to keep them at bay. Moths - acidic household white vinegar is effective for deterring moths. Soak some kitchen roll in vinegar and leave it in your wardrobe as a deterrent. Flying ants - herbs and spices, such as cinnamon, mint, chilli pepper, black pepper, cayenne pepper, cloves, or garlic act as deterrents. Mosquitoes - plants, herbs and essential oil fragrances can help deter mozzies inside and out. Try eucalyptus, lavender and lemongrass. A third person said: "I need too try this my plants are eaten up." Another cheap hack you can use to keep slugs out of your garden is to plant daffodil bulbs, as the invertebrates are deterred by the flowers' alkaloid content. Plus, the stunning yellow petals brighten up your garden, with bulbs available to purchase for as little as £1. Gardeners have also been encouraged to bury empty glass bottles in their gardens, as this produces a humming sound that keeps slugs at bay. He told The Sun: 'People may be surprised to hear it, but beer is a really simple solution to a slug problem. It's also probably something you already have at home.'
