 For
your interest we have an archive newsletter section.
Please note that any special offers and prices mentioned may not
now be current.
Senetti – the Big Hit Outdoor Cineraria
No doubt you’ve seen or read about this stonking new plant on BBC
Gardeners’ World or in the gardening press and you’ll be mesmerised
by its amazing colour. This is a plant with the ‘wow-factor’ and
it will give your pots and borders fantastic colour, even on the
dullest of early summer days.
Being a relative of cineraria it is not totally hardy, and it will
benefit from regular deadheading to help prolong its floral display.
You’ll also need to keep the feed going around it too; I’d recommend
a high potash tomato fertiliser, such as Tomorite. We will certainly
be ‘test-driving’ this plant around the garden centre over the coming
months to see how it fares, but if first impressions are anything
to go by, we think this is going to a knockout plant for future
years.
Best
of Bedding
We’re all looking for colour - that’s the clear message as far
as our bedding plants sales have proved so far this season. Up to
the minute varieties and modern advances with slow release feeds
essentially mean that plants are usually much further advanced by
this time of the year and are coming into colour. There is absolutely
no harm buying your bedding ‘in colour’ these days; in fact it usually
makes the whole experience far more enjoyable!
We have plenty of stock looking good from our production unit and
here are just a few that caught my eye today.
Dahlias are back with a vengeance this season and what’s more you
don’t need a garden border and acres of space to grow them in. Take
the new ‘Dahliette’ varieties. Growing to just 8-10inches (20-25cm)
high they are perfect for planters, pots and even hanging baskets.
The miniature blooms are available in separate colours and sell
for £2.25 a pot.
Last year’s hot summer ensured a fantastic display of the Gazania,
and the variety ‘Kiss’ and ‘Tiger Stripe’ are this year’s latest
floral attractions. The vivid blooms open well in bright weather
and are long-lasting. What’s more, they look great in borders that
are prone to drought.
Guaranteed colour from summer bedding doesn’t come much better
than from the ‘Junior’ Petunia range. Available in single colours,
these colourful miniatures will delight the eye and ensure your
pots are brimming with colour all summer long.
Let’s end on a real cracker - Pelargonium ‘Fireworks’. If you thought
all geraniums (correctly known as pelargoniums) were the same then
may we suggest you think again! The serrated individual blooms are
formed on large numbers of flower heads, raised well above the well-zoned
foliage. They are exceptional value at £2.25 for a 13cm (5in) pot.
Sunflower
Competition for Schools
 This
year instead of supporting local schools’ fêtes, sports days etc.
we are setting them a challenge and the chance to win prizes for
the school. Any school which applies to take part will be given
pot grown sunflowers all the same variety, grown from seeds donated
by Unwins Seeds.
The challenge is then to produce the largest sunflower head – the
world record, according to the Guinness Book of Records, is 32¼ins
(82cm) across and was grown by Emily Martin in Maple Ridge, British
Columbia, Canada in 1983.
Judging will taker place here on 25th September so watch
this spot to see if any budding Bucks green fingered schoolchild
can get anywhere near the world record or even beat it!
Find out more at www.bigsunflowers.com
May’s Burstin’ Out All Over!
Last autumn’s drought stopped many of us planting trees – dust
bowl soil and high temperature into late September did, however,
ensure a fantastic display of autumnal leaf colour. We’ve noticed
far more activity with tree planting this spring, so now is a great
opportunity to check out our range of ornamental trees. We’ve some
splendid flowering crab apples, maples, white-stemmed Jacquemontii
birch as well as a plethora of great value small garden trees to
tempt you.
Air
Pot Technology
 Last
week we took into stock a collection of semi-mature trees which
are in ‘air pot technology’ containers. This is a new patented
method of production of large trees by Notcutts/Waterers and in
layman’s terms can be described as producing stock in a perforated
tea bag! By letting oxygen get in through the container this naturally
prunes the roots and thereby the tree produces an extremely good
system of small fibrous roots. This means that a large tree, between
12 to l5 feet high with a really good head can be produced in a
65 litre container. Considering the size and quality of these trees
we consider the prices ranging from £129.95 to £249.95 very reasonable.
We shall be very interested to have your reactions.
And now to the more delicate trees – Japanese maples. These in
all their guises are now on display in our new-look shade area.
All the popular Acer dissectums rub shoulders with the finely dissected
filigree foliage of the palmatums – it’s a cracking display and
well worth viewing in a perfect tranquil Oriental setting. You’ll
find this new display located next our new Fuchsia House.
Elsewhere, stunning spiraeas (great spring foliage and flowers),
lovely lilacs (syringa) and lavenders, Exochorda (‘The Bride’),
the brightest of the variegated Ceanothus, that’s ‘Zanzibar’ and
masses of hebe varieties all bid for attention in the shrub area.
Great gap-fillers to include on your shopping list include Berberis
darwinii, Cytisus, Cistus and Vinca (periwinkles).
Tasty
Little Numbers
This season we have propagated 14 (that’s right 14) different varieties
of tomato here at the nursery for you to choose from. Most are tried
and tested old friends (and popular favourites) and the others we
are trying for the first time. All varieties are priced at 99p each
and are on sale now (subject to availability).
Here’s the essential pick list of tomatoes you can select
from…
‘Alicante’. An old favourite - a reliable
and heavy cropper with fleshy fruits that have a fine flavour. This
variety is also resistant to greenback and can be grown either under
glass or outside.
‘Bigboy’. A beefsteak variety with fruits that can weigh
up to a pound (half a kilo)! If you would like to have a go and
grow this one to that size disbud the truss to just two or three
fruits and feed it well, good luck and best of all, grow it outside.
‘Gardeners Delight’. Another old favourite, a cherry type
with large trusses of fruit of outstanding flavour; or if you could
only grow one variety of tomato this is the one. You will not be
disappointed believe me, and can be grown under glass or outside.
‘Mirabel’. Delightful yellow cherry type with sweet tasting
fruits similar to Gardeners delight, and can be grown under glass
or outside.
‘Moneymaker’. A very popular variety with large trusses
of medium-sized fruits, which are best grown under glass.
‘Red Alert’. A modern early variety with small fruits of
excellent flavour. This is a bush variety, which can be grown in
a border or even on containers on the patio.
‘Roma’. A plum type tomato of good flavour, fleshy fruits
with few seeds and is perfect for sandwiches and cooking. This bush
variety can be grown under glass or outside, but may need support.
‘San Mazarno’. A plum variety mainly used for making soups
and paste sauces. Grow this variety under glass.
‘Shirley’. A very reliable variety producing heavy crops
of medium-sized fruits of good flavour. ‘Shirley’ is resistant to
leaf mould, virus and greenback. Grow under glass.
‘Supersweet 100’. Nearly a rival to ‘Gardeners Delight’,
delicious sweet grape sized fruits. You can expect to pick several
hundreds from a well-grown plants. Can be grown under glass or outside.
‘Tigerella’. An early tomato that has distinct red and yellow
stripes when mature producing good yields of fine flavoured fruit
and is best grown under glass.
‘Tiny Tim’. A dwarf bush variety producing grape-sized almost
seedless fruits of good flavour. Can be grown outside in pots or
even in a window box.
‘Totem’.Dwarf and compact, producing early crops of medium-sized
fruits and is deal for the patio.
‘Tumbler’. A bush variety, the plants have a cascading habit
and are perfect for hanging baskets and pots. The cherry-sized fruits
are of excellent flavour - a single plant can produce over 2kg of
fruit, so don’t put too many plants into a hanging basket!
Fuchsia
House – for Fuchsia Addicts!
 There
have been a number of changes as far as displays at the garden centre
over these past few weeks, and none more impressive than our aptly
named ‘Fuchsia House’. Located within the shrub sales area, this
tunnel is choc-a-bloc with a massive range of fuchsia plants. There
are hardy forms, bush types, basket varieties, full standards, half
standards, columns and huge stock plants and all are looking fantastic.
Our special multi-buy this season is worth considering – select
any five (5) fuchsia in 9cm/10cm pots for just £6 (you save £1.50).
You’ll see the best of varieties on display, and all at a great
price – happy fuchsia hunting!!
Jobs for May
CONTINUE planting up baskets, wall planters and patio tubs
with half-hardy bedding plants. Remember to have some horticultural
fleece to hand just in case night-frosts are forecast so you can
cover vulnerable plants. It is a good idea to keep your baskets
undercover for a few days to allow the roots to establish before
putting them directly outside.
SPRAY for aphids, capsids and other sap-sucking pests on
a routine basis. You can use contact sprays such as soft soap (Bio
organic pest control spray gun) and natural plant oils (Growing
Success Bug Killer) weekly. Alternatively, spray your ornamentals
with Ultimate Bug Killer, a systemic insecticide (the only systemic
on the market now) to control more difficult and persistent pests.
Do follow the recommendations on the packaging when spraying your
plants.
SUCCESSIONAL sowings are essential for the vegetable plot.
Keep short rows of lettuce, radish, spring onions and beetroot ongoing
over the next few months. Plant out cabbage, cauliflower and early
Brussels sprouts. Once the danger of frosts has passed, set up your
bean wig-wams and plant up runner and climbing French beans.
PRUNE back spring flowering shrubs as they finish their
display for this season. Spiraea, forsythia and kerria can be cut
back hard to encourage good strong bushy growth. Once pruned do
follow with a feed of Vitax Q4 and a generous mulch.
FEED your bulbs as soon as they have finished flowering.
Apply Sulphate of Potash around each clump and water well in. Alternatively,
use a hose-end dilutor and add Phostrogen or Miracle-Gro and apply
around the clumps of foliage. Do not cut down the foliage of bulbs
for six weeks after flowering to allow the bulbs to take in the
feed.
TIE in stems of climbing and rambler roses as growth develops.
Don’t over tighten around the developing stems – give them room
to grow.
Larger
Car Park
The area at the back of the car park has now settled enough for
us to be able to surface it to form an overflow car park. This
will provide many extra parking spaces, so we shall not see so many
frustrated customers driving round and round in circles in the car
park.
You may be interested to know that all the soil in this area came
from our ‘irrigation lake’ - a large area where we store all the
rain water which has come off the greenhouses and buildings in that
area. This will then pumped into the irrigation system so that
the plants can be watered as much as possible with rain water rather
than the rather limy water supplied by the local water authorities.
In the past many of our plants have had a greyish marking on the
leaves due to constant irrigation with tap water. This was particularly
apparent last summer when we were forced to do so much watering.
We are hoping that using saved water will help to get over this
problem.
Anyone parking in the overflow area may wonder what all the construction
work to the right of the area is going to be. We are at the moment
putting in security fencing to enclose the new hard landscaping
area. Soon after this is completed we shall be getting in a superb
new range of paving and edging stones and we shall be able to increase
the range of fencing and trellising.
Outdoor
Living
Like us you are no doubt hoping for a long warm summer. With this
in mind, we have introduced lots of new lines this year that have
an outdoor living theme which we are sure will help you to unwind
once the garden chores are done.
A brand new water feature area has been installed adjacent to our
seasonal plant area. We have many working displays that will help
you to picture what you can achieve in your own garden. Many of
the features can be set up on a pond or pebble pool or used free
standing on your patio. We have all of the components that you need
and expert help at hand to give advice should you be unsure of how
to set a water feature up.
For those who already have a pond in their garden the new season’s
range of cold water fish are now in stock, as are water plants –
marginals, floating, oxygenating and deep water.
You should now have stopped feeding your fish with wheat germ and
be back to feeding with a regular feed.
I am sure that many of you who read that barley straw had been
banned for use in ponds will be delighted to hear that the ban has
been lifted. The Aqu Bales we have available will treat the algae
in your pond. One bale costing £4.99 will treat up to 1000 gallons.
If your pond really is in need of a clean out we do have an aqua-vac
here which you can hire to help you carry out this rather messy
and sometimes smelly task. We won’t say it will eliminate the mess
or smell but it will speed matters up and make the task less arduous
and odorous!
 We
have introduced a huge new range of pots and stoneware in all shapes
and colours, so we now have pots from 10cm up to a massive 90cm
in diameter. Amongst our new range of stone is a life size Great
Dane this weighs a quarter of a ton but can be delivered direct
to your home.
To complement our furniture range we have also introduced for
the first time ranges of gas and charcoal barbecues plus accessories,
and set up three introductory offers to temp you.
Leisuregrown Sunny Gas BBQ with Cover:
Normal Combined Price: £154.99
Added Value Price: £125.00 - Save £29.99
Weber One Touch Silver 57cm Charcoal BBQ:
Normal Price £109.99
Special Price £99.99 - Save £10.00
Weber Compact Grill 47cm Charcoal BBQ
Normal Price £69.99
Special Price £59.99 - Save £10.00
To complete the outdoor theme we have ranged various tee lights,
lanterns, oil lamps and also an 8 piece low voltage light set for
just £19.99.
Many customers were disappointed last year when we ran out of the
easy-build 3 metre square gazebos. These gazebos which really are
easy to put up have detachable side curtains to keep the wind out
are available again, and we are pleased to say that they are still
selling at £99.99.
Keep watching this space as the season gets under way because we
are planning to introduce many more new lines to help you to enjoy
summer in your garden. |
