Seeds to plant now:

Indoor or in a heated greenhouse

Cress

Lettuce

Ornamental Pepper

Outside

Ageratum

Alpine poppy

Alyssum

Aubretia, Rock cress, Aubrieta, Aubrietia

Brussels sprout

Cabbage

carrot

Cauliflower

Cress

Floss flower, Ageratum

Hollyhock

Larkspur

Lettuce

Normandy sorrel

Onion

Radish

Spinach

Spring onion

Swiss chard, Ruby chard, Rhubard chard

Turnip

Outside

Cauliflower

Lettuce

Shows and events:

Update 18/03/2020
Following the recent Government advice about public gatherings, a number of garden shows have been cancelled or scaled back.

Perhaps we can spend what we would have spent on show admission on a plant order and support a local or online plant nursery/grower/garden centre and have a private garden show in our own garden.
I'll try to keep this list up to date as the situation changes. Regards Nick.

All event details have been entered as accurately as possible, but please check with the event organisers before travelling to avoid disappointment.

Welcome to the UKGardening Internet site.

The UKGardening web site has been running since 1998. The idea behind the site has always been to provide what we think will be interesting and useful information for the novice gardener.

Jobs to do in the garden this week.

• Lift marrows, pumpkins and squashes off the ground with straw or upturned plastic flower pots, in order to help them ripen in the last of the sun, keep them from sitting on damp soil and reduce slug damage.
• Feed houseplants with liquid seaweed or a general fertilizer.
• If your tomato plants have been affected by blight, clear the plants and burn them, adding them to the compost heap will not kill the spores.
• Remove weak growth from autumn fruiting raspberries.
• Grass will need less frequent mowing in prolonged dry weather. If very dry, remove the grass collecting box and let the cuttings stay on the ground to conserve soil moisture.
• Continue to collect and store seeds from plants, for sowing next year. Store any collected seed in paper envelopes or bags, then put them in an air-tight container.
• Propagate hibiscus, lavender and rhododendron plants by taking semi-ripe cuttings.
• Propagate celamatis, honeysuckle and wisteria plants by layering.
• Collect and dispose of wind-fall fruit. Leaving them on the ground encourages pests and can damage your lawn.
• Take cuttings of shrubs: senecio, lavender, sage, rosemary, fuchsia, hebe, daphne, cistus, choisya and azalea.
• Prune wisteria by shortening the whippy lateral shoots to about six buds from the main stems.
• Prepare the garden now if you are going on holiday. Water all shrubs well, including roses and climbers, then lay 2-3in thick mulch on top of the soil around their roots to keep the roots cool.
• If the your grass has grown long while you have been on holiday, give it a cut with the blade set quite high and then lower a few days later, this reduces the chance of the grass going into shock and allowing weeds to get established
• If you are going on holiday either get a neighbour to water your house plants, hanging baskets and patio planters, alternatively put all of your plants including house plants on the patio or lawn, put the lawn sprinkler between them and connect the hose to an outside tap using a water timer (set the timer to come on twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening - 10 minutes each time should be sufficient). Test the settings before you go away.
• Feed tomato plants fornightly with a liquid fertiliser (this must be diluted in water to prevent burning the plants)
• Tie tomato stems to canes or stakes to prevent the weight of the fruit breaking the plant.
• Pond fish will eat more in the summer, feed them little and often, once or twice a day. If the food has not been eaten within 15 minutes, remove and dispose of the excess.
• Ensure that soil in hanging baskets and patio planters is kept moist. Remove fading and dead flower heads from plants, this will encourage new flowers. Feed hanging baskets and planters weekly with liquid fertiliser if a slow release fertiliser was not added when planting the basket.
• Move houseplants outside for some summer sunshine.
• Continually nip out side shoots from upright (cordon) tomato plants. These reduce the amount of food available to fruit baring branches. If growing plants in the greenhouse, nip out the growing tip after the plant has produced 4-5 fruiting trusses, reduce this to 3-4 if growing tomatoes outside. See here, for more information: https://youtu.be/zFBgCBaFSnk
• Regularly water trees and shrubs that were planted last autumn and winter. Their roots won't have had a chance to fully develop yet.
• Cut grass weekly, long grass takes more nutrients out of the soil. It is also harder to cut and may leave yellow patches in the lawn.
• Lift, divide and replant chives.

Recent articles:

• UKGardening YouTube Channel
• YouTube: Dead-heading and collecting seed from perennials
• Sowing seeds
• Chitting and growing potatoes
• Cleaning patios, paths and decking
• Making leaf mould
• Planting up winter containers and baskets
• Creating a compost heap
• How to lay a new lawn
• Removing large branches
• Updated photo gallery