Fact Sheet 44
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THE GARDENERS DIARY
WEEK 44
31st July 2005
THE DIARY THE FLOWER GARDEN: Start planning for bulbs! This week is an ideal opportunity to start planning for autumn planting especially that of spring flowering bulbs. It is worth scanning your perimeters and find ideal areas to plant the bulbs in the coming months. There are a wide variety of plants which can be used but study your books and literature to ensure that the varieties you have decided on will be suitable for their positions. Some bulbs, once planted, will naturalise and slowly create a carpet of colour to brighten large areas.
FRUIT & VEG: Tidy Currants.
Currants which now have been stripped of their fruit now need to be trimmed. All members of the currant family the fruit is borne on the previous year's wood. Older branches need to be removed to allow some of the younger and healthier shoots to develop from the base of the plant. On younger plants the fruited growth needs to be trimmed back to around half its height to help gain a strong and healthy shape. Whilst trimming currants, old and young alike should have any dead, damaged and diseased wood removed also any inward growing stems should also be completely removed.
DISEASE PROBLEM OF THE WEEK: Horse Chestnut Scale.
This strain of scale secretes a white waxy substance. This covers the eggs and can look rather unsightly as well as hindering the growth of your tree or shrub. It can attack a wide variety of woody perennials and appears in mid-summer If it isn't treated the scale will bore into the bark of the host plant and then over winter as blackish-yellow nymphs. They can also be the main cause of honeydew and eventually sooty black mildew if not treated. Control can be difficult but the scale can be removed manually or by spraying the plant with suitable fungicide.
Listen to The Gardener's Diary with Luke Ashmead on BBC Three Counties Radio every Sunday afternoon at 2.00pm Contact The Gardener's Diary Here BBC Three Counties Radio 94.7, 98, 103.8, 95.5 and 104.5FM | 
