HOW TO ... BEAUTIFY YOUR BEDS
20 May 2010
Beautiful beds and borders filled with healthy plants and flowers really bring a garden to life. By choosing a mixture of plants; colour, sound, texture and scent can be combined to create a feast for the senses. But beds don’t need to be all hard work. Garden care company Bayer Garden has put together straightforward tips for brilliant borders:
1. Early spring is the ideal time to feed beds and borders to encourage your plants give their best. This can be as simple as spreading a granular product like Toprose and raking or watering in a soluble feed like Phostrogen Plant Food. Follow up with a second application in mid summer to extend colour and growth well into the autumn.
2. Remove unsightly weeds with a little gentle hoeing, pulling by hand or spot treating with a spray on weed control such as 3 Hour Weedkiller ready to use.
3. Prune back overgrown shrubs to keep the more vigorous ones under control and create space and light to encourage smaller plants.
4. Any gaps in the border can be filled in a number of clever ways. If you need seasonal colour consider planting pots of bulbs. They will come up year after year. Alternatively for inspiration visit your local garden centre for what’s in flower right now. Create the wow factor by creating height using posts, obelisks or any manner of vertical structure and planting stunning climbers which will ramble up these supports. To find the perfect plants use the RHS Plant Finder (bookshops or online) and search for nurseries specialising in climbing plants in your local area.
5. Grasses are simply unbeatable for creating sound and movement and there is one for every situation to bring colour, structure, height and even winter interest.
6. Scented plants work extra hard to help create brilliant beds so be sure to choose a few. Site them near windows and paths so you reap the full benefits. Warm sheltered spots help ensure the scents produced are more powerful. Scented plants come in every form from low growing ground covers to climbers for walls and backs of borders too.
7. Look out for damage by bugs, slugs and diseases. Take action at the first sign of a problem, before pests become too numerous. There are a range of advanced garden products available such as Bayer Garden organic Slug Bait, Provado Ultimate Bug Killer Ready to Use and Fungus Fighter Disease Control which make it simple to deal with problems.
8. Finally keep all the edges tidy. A neat, well defined edge is one of the single most effective ways to really create a good impression and offset borders perfectly.
Phostrogen Plant Food, Slug Bait, Provado Ultimate Bug Killer, Fungus Fighter Disease Control & Toprose are available from all good garden centres. For details contact the Bayer Garden Helpline on 0845 3454100 or email gardening.advisor@bayergarden.co.uk
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