In the first of her new monthly columns, Crawley Horticultural Society’s Helen Bergin shares tips and tales from her Southgate garden
HOORAY, it’s spring! Well, it looks like spring even if it doesn’t feel like spring.
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TOP TIPS: Helen Bergin shares gardening expertise in her monthly column
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IN BLOOM: Doronicums are in flower in Helen’s garden
This is the busiest time of year for all gardeners and 2013 has been particularly difficult with the windy, wet and cold weather we have had.
Despite this, my garden still has daffodils in flower as well as blue and pink pulmonarias with their white spotted leaves, forsythia, tulips, forget-me-nots and doronicums.
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Seeds are also being sewn for summer, autumn and winter vegetables.
Currently on my terrace and in the greenhouse I have beetroot, lettuce, spinach, broad beans, runner beans, french beans, sweet peppers, cucumbers, courgettes, leeks, parsnips, peas and tomatoes. Most of them are ready to go into the allotment or out into the flower borders.
For planting in the garden, there are pots of sweet peas, cosmos, annual and perennial dahlias, tagetes (for the pollinators in the greenhouse) and zinnias.
Now is the time to plant hanging baskets with summer bedding. Remember to think about where your basket will be – in the sun or shade – before you buy your plants and decide on a theme or colour.
Bees are also a necessity in the garden. The numbers of bees visiting our flowerbeds and vegetable plots have been falling over recent years.
Last spring there were worryingly few and this year is the same, so we should try to think about them when we are planning our gardens.
Bees like plants which help them collect nectar and pollen to turn into honey in their nests.
They love aquilegias, marigolds, cosmos, sunflowers, poppies, achillea, asters and echinops.
Come along to our talk at the Crawley Horticultural Society (in Ifield Avenue, West Green) on June 6 and listen to our bee expert explaining how important bees are to us and what we can do to help them.
Lastly, remember that whilst planning all the good things in the garden, we must remember to keep on top of weeds – the bitter fight for all gardeners.
I am currently digging over my autumn flower border which is infested with pernicious creeping buttercup and dock leaves.
They arrived over winter and will choke the summer day lilies and heleniums if I don’t dig now.
When I have cleared the ground I will also plant a very tall perennial sunflower – Lemon Queen – alongside a deep purple aster, which should look spectacular in the autumn, and be food for the bees at the same time.
If you have any questions or would like more plant recommendations you can e-mail me at editorial@crawleyhorticulturalsociety.org.uk
Crawley Horticultural Society calendar of events (held in the CHS Hall):
6 June – Dr Karin Alton, honey bee research scientist at the University of Sussex, will be giving a talk on “Planting for pollinators, how can we help boost our declining populations?”
9 June – Cats Protection Homing Show 11am – 3pm
22 June – Summer and Pelargonium Show 1.30pm
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