Garden Supplies News

Flaming June in its usual sense has been somewhat of a washout this year and the slang meaning of flaming would be more appropriate. Rain and yet more rain interspersed with heavy cloud has meant that the sun has rarely appeared. But earlier this week the skies finally cleared and we had a fine summer day at last.

To make the most of the day my wife and I paid our annual visit to Mottisfont. This started life as an abbey which was later partly demolished and rebuilt as a country house and is now cared for by the National Trust. Its main claim to fame is a large walled garden which is full of roses. Despite all the rain these were in remarkably good condition as you can see from some of the examples below.

Earlier this year there was talk of water shortages and hosepipe bans in my area, but all the recent rain has removed that threat. Whenever there is concern about water restrictions there is always plenty of advice on the best way to water your plants. Standard advice is that you should not water when the sun is shining since the water drops could damage the leaves. The theory is that the drops of water act like a lens and concentrate the sunlight so as to burn the leaf. In fact it seems that this is incorrect and research carried out two years ago by Hungarian scientists confirmed that this is a myth as this article by Ken Thomson explains. Read more..

If you are the sort of person who likes an neat and orderly garden shed where each tool has its allotted space you will appreciate this layout by ashbeedesign which has been pinned by Sarah on Pinterest. Read more..

And you can find my Pinterest board at: http://pinterest.com/hughe1/