Seasonal Garden Tips

In the border:Water plants in dry spells. Water thoroughly early morning or evening so the water doesn't have a chance to evaporate before penetrating the soil. Deadhead plants regularly to promote more flowers.Remove suckers from roses. Don't cut these off at ground level as this will encourage them to grow back even stronger. Use a trowel to dig down to where the sucker starts and tear it out.If you have blackspot or mildew on your roses it is possible to buy sprays but this needs to be done every two weeks all through the summer. Far better to choose disease resistant roses.Keep training climbing and rambling roses. Little and often is best and prevents them getting out of control. On a wall or fence choose strong, well placed stems coming from close to the base and spread them out. Tie them in to the supports - tensioned wires between vine eyes work well.Prune Clematis montana if necessary. Dig up tulip bulbs when the foliage has died off and store dry bulbs in a cool dry shed to replant in autumn.

Lawns:Mow lawns regularly. In dry spells lift mower blades slightly to help the lawn stay greener. If your lawn needs a boost give it a liquid or soluble feed through a watering can or hose-end device. Granular feeds should only be applied in the spring. Never feed a lawn if it is suffering in dry weather. Keep new lawns watered in dry weather. Give it a really good soaking once a week instead of damping it little and often. A good tip is to put an empty baked bean can on the lawn and when it has at least an inch of water in it then you have watered enough.

Vegetable garden and greenhouse:Sow lettuce, spring onion, radish, maincrop carrots, peas, calabrese, french and runner beans, courgettes and squashes into your vegetable borders. Rocket tends to bolt in hot weather so best sown in late spring or later in the summer.Each time you clear out a finished row of lettuce or radishes sprinkle a handful of organic general fertilizer along each metre and work it in before sowing or planting your next crop.Water young vegetables regularly in dry weather. In the greenhouse there is still time before the middle of the month to plant summer crops such as peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes and aubergines.Greenhouse crops that were planted last month will be growing well. Feed with liquid tomato food once a week and water regularly. Don't overwater cucumbers when young plants or they may rot off.Tie in new tomato growth and pinch out the side shoots (the growth coming from where a leaf meets the main stem).If you have pests in the greenhouse such as whitefly or red spider mite there is a good website which sells effective biological control: www.greengardener.co.uk. They also sell a biological control for slugs.