NEWSLETTER
ARCHIVE
April 2006
Newsletter
Buckingham's Going Live.
Everything's Rosy
10 Gardening Tasks to Conserve Water
Launch of New Garden Discount Card
Outdoor Living Weekend, 22nd - 23rd April
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Buckingham
Garden Centre
Tingewick Road
Buckingham
MK18 4AE
Telephone:
01280 822133
Fax:
01280 815491
www.hedging.co.uk
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For your interest we have
an archive newsletter section.
Please note that any special offers and prices mentioned may not
now be current.
 Buckingham’s
Going Live
Regular customers will know that Chris Day, our plant buyer and
advisor, can often be heard giving gardening advice on BBC Three
Counties Radio (The Gardening Programme with Lorna Milton, Saturdays
9am-12noon). The tables will be turning on Friday, 21st April when
you’ll be able to hear many of the staff and customers from
Buckingham Garden Centre, live on air, on Luke Ashmead’s radio
show which will be broadcast between 1-3 pm.
Luke, who is a keen and passionate gardener, will be looking at
all aspects of the garden centre at this busy planting time, including
advice, learning more about our Outdoor Living Weekend (Saturday
22nd and Sunday 23rd April), container gardening as well as Luke’s
interest in fruit and vegetable growing.
Please do tune in, here are the all-important radio frequencies
90.4, 92.1, 94.7, 95.5, 98, 103.8 and 104.5FM and online at bbc.co.uk/threecounties
between 1-3 pm on Friday 21st April.
Everything’s
Rosy
 The
gardening season certainly is in the hands of Mother Nature at the
moment, but do cheer yourself up and check out some of the new plants
coming into the garden centre at the moment, including the 2006
Rose of the Year, ‘Champagne Moment’. This stunning
new rose, from the same breeding stable as previous roses of the
year, including ‘Summertime’ (yellow patio climber,
2005), ‘Golden Memories (yellow bush rose, 2004) and ‘Rhapsody
in Blue’ (a new blue, 2003). ‘Champagne Moment’
produces lovely apricot to pale pink lightly fragrant blooms all
summer and best of all, it’s compact growing to just 2-3ft
(60-90cm) high. Do check out our roses – we’ve plenty
of the David Austin English shrub roses to tempt you!
 If
you are looking for something very different in the rose world,
how about this year’s novelty rose, ‘Hot Chocolate’?
Yes, the blooms really are chocolate brown with a pleasing fragrance,
alas though, not chocolate scented!
Elsewhere, you have some new additions to the dicentra family
(bleeding heart) with ‘Candy Hearts’ and ‘Gold
Heart’ taking centre stage. Check out the colourful potfuls
of wallflowers, Brompton Stocks (deliciously fragrant) and Erysimum
‘Apricot Delight’, a real orange corker for pots and
borders.
We’ve now our stock of this year’s Inkarho (lime-tolerant)
rhododendrons and we have extended the range to include larger specimens
as well as ultra dwarf yakushimanums. These specially grafted plants
will grow well in the ground in this area as well as in pots.
Look out for the bright blue pots of our latest alpine supplier,
located just outside the large seasonal tunnel brimming with hardy
bedding plants, camellias and colourful seasonal plants.
Fruit and vegetables will be featured in our white and green tunnel,
and will include pack vegetables as well as greenhouse favourites
like tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. New varieties will be available
weekly, so do check out what’s looking good on your next visit.
10
Gardening Tasks to Conserve Water
1. Whatever you plant this season, do work in good quantities of
moisture retentative compost, manure or peat-substitute, placing
generous amounts in with the soil you remove to make the planting
hole. Don’t forget the apply a good soaking of water to settle
the plants in and then mulch around the newly established plants
with a 2-3in (5-7cm) layer of home-produced compost, well-rotted
manure or planting compost to help conserve the water and stop it
evaporating away.
2. If you are planting bedding, summer bulbs, trees and shrubs,
make sure you apply some RootGrow ® in direct contact with the
roots. You should also treat last-minute planted bare-root stock
as well, to give them the best possible start in life.
3. If you intend to plant up patio containers, including hanging
baskets, opt for larger sizes to hold more moisture. Bigger pots
will give a much better display rather than lots of smaller containers.
It’s also a good way of utilising your water more effectively.
4. Shredded newspaper (not glossy magazine print) makes an excellent
moisture sponge – perfect to add to your trenches when planting
vegetable crops – especially members of the pea and bean family.
Do soak the paper before covering it with soil, otherwise it is
less likely to break down effectively.
5. If you are planning large border re-plants, do consider rolling
out landscape fabric over the area you intend to cover to suppress
weed growth, conserve moisture and provide a cool root run for your
newly-planted stock. Do this and you’ll save so much time
not having to pull those undesirable weeds out!!
6. When selecting shrubs, perennials and grasses, opt for forms
that will grow well with limited water. We’ll be highlighting
plenty of plants at the garden centre over the next few weeks, but
for starters good ones to go for are herbs, alpines, silver-leaved
shrubs, such as Convolvulus cneorum and Seneico greyii, rock roses
and groundcover geraniums. Olives, callistemons, phormiums and hardy
palms are superb for hot, sunny aspects and will survive on relatively
small amounts of water, providing they are planted in good sized
pots.
7. Use water retaining granules mixed with your compost when planting
pots and hanging baskets and also when planting hardy plants close
to rain-shadow areas, say next to a solid wall or fence, or close
to the house.
8. In true ‘Blue Peter’ fashion, make yourself some
fizzy drink water tubes for sinking close to the roots of any newly
planted tree, shrub or perennial. The 2-litre size fizzy pop bottles
are best. Cut off the flat bottom, make two or three holes on one
half only of the bottle in the four inches nearest the neck of the
bottle, then insert the bottle neck down with the side with the
extra holes facing the roots of your plant. You might need to sink
the bottle down by one-third for best effect. The water will be
directed straight to the roots, so maximising the water you apply.
9. Start using ‘grey water’ to water your plants –
this water must contain soap only – never use water containing
bleach or strong detergents, but washing-up liquid and bubble bath
water are fine.
10. Make sure you are prepared for the drought by installing at
least one water butt. Simple diverter kits are available to remove
water from house, greenhouse and conservatory down-pipes.
Launch
of New Garden Discount Card
For years we have had a discount card which was only available
to members of local Gardening Clubs, but as many of our loyal customers
are not members of Clubs for various reasons we have decided to
change the availability and terms of the cards.
The new cards, available to any customer at the Garden Centre,
will give a 5% discount at the till off all garden plants, pond
plants, seeds, bulbs and houseplants at anytime, plus double discount
on Wednesdays. We will be running special offers for Garden Card
holders which will be well advertised, plus organising talks and
possibly outings if holders are interested. Regular Newsletters
will be sent out giving topical tips and other news. For lifetime
membership for this new card the cost is £10.00, (or £5
if you are a member of a registered local Gardening Club) and existing
Garden Card holders will automatically be transferred to the new
scheme on the 22nd April at no cost. Final discount vouchers from
the old cards will be sent out shortly.
To help promote the launch of this new card we are putting the
names of the applicants for the new card into a box and one name
will be drawn at the end of the week-end, and the lucky winner will
receive an Alexander Rose 4ft mahogany bench worth £129.
Outdoor
Living Weekend, 22nd - 23rd April
Come along to get inspired for making the most of your garden for
the summer, we have:
- Barbecue Cooking Demonstrations - Expert barbecue
cooks to demonstrate how to make the best of your barbecue. Plus
local farmer with fresh meat from the farm to cook on the barbecue.
- A Swimming Pool Expert - Local swimming pool
company to discuss indoor and outdoor swimming pools. Show pool
(sorry not filled!) and show buildings.
- Olives Galore - Loads of varieties of olives
to eat, excellent for hors d’ oeuvres or with summer salads.
- Good Cheeses and a Chocolate Fountain - Sunday
only
- Drunken Monk Tavern - Excellent range of ‘small
brewery beers’, unusual ciders, English fruit juices and
wines.
- Get your dog washed for charity! - Our local
Pooch Mobile will be washing dogs in her hydrobath! All profits
will go to the Hearing Dogs for Deaf People.
- BBOWT – Local Wildlife Charity. Talk
to a representative from our local wildlife charity and find out
about talks, walks and places to visit this summer.
- Chrissie’s Owls - Talk to Chrissie about
her work with Owls and meet one of the owls!
- Launch of New Discount Garden Card (see above)
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