Hillsborough Castle’s head gardener shares great gardening tips

Working with the team at Hillsborough Castle and Gardens, Claire has kindly shared her top tips for taking care of your garden during lockdown:

*Get the compost right

As all professional gardeners and horticulturists know, the key to the growth of crops or garden plants is what you grow them in – from soil in your garden to compost in a pot, or even just water. Your plants need water, air, nutrients and support to ensure optimum growth. Add 15% of perlite – a volcanic material which helps maintain water – to your compost or a water retaining jelly (not too much though) to make sure they’re getting enough to drink. For nutrients, six weeks after you’ve used your multi-purpose compost, introduce a liquid feed of a slow release fertilizer to make sure your plants are getting the nutrients they need to thrive!

*Put a saucer in your hanging baskets

Ever wondered why councils and parks departments only need to water their baskets a couple of times a week, when you have to do yours every day? The secret is a sump in the bottom of the basket, or a trough that holds water. You can make one too in your own basket. After you have inserted the liner, put an old saucer, ceramic, plastic or even a plastic lid, at the bottom to retain water, reducing the rate of drainage whilst not drowning your plants too much by over-watering.

*Keep it clean

Practicing good hygiene is more important to us all now than ever – but it’s a vital technique for a gardener too. It will help you control pests and disease in your garden. My top tip is to always wash pots in a dilute disinfectant before you reuse them. The easiest way to do this is to fill a large bucket with your disinfectant solution and submerge all your pots in it for a day. You might need a brush to remove the most stubborn bits! Afterwards – leave them in the sun (if it appears!) to dry.

*Water regularly

In spring and summer, when plants in pots and containers grow most rapidly, they will need lots of water, especially if it’s windy! As a rule of thumb, if the clothes on your line are drying quickly, check your plants too – they might also be losing moisture rapidly. Use water from a rain butt if at all possible, but if you are using a hose be sure to be gentle, and be careful not to wash compost away from the surface of your plant so water simply cannot penetrate. If you have a large number of pots, you can set up an irrigation system on a timer but do make sure your plants aren’t being over watered. By watering regularly, you prevent the plants from getting stressed which can affect their growth.

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