Gardening tips from Overbury Estate Gardens Manager, Leigh Watts
As the soils is warming up things are really starting to get going in the garden now. The spring bulbs have started to fade and the herbaceous plants are starting to come into their own. Now is the time to complete any division and dividing grasses now will give them a new lease of life. It is also the time to take softwood cuttings of plants such as budleas, penstemon, dianthus and hydrangeas. The fresh new growth will take root easily at this time of year. Towards the end of the month bedding can be planted out to brighten up those now drab looking winter containers.
The grass needs mowing once a week at this time of year although this can drop to every other week in July/August. Now is one of the best times of the year to tackle weeds in your lawn before they become more established. Patching up bare bits of lawn is easily done in the first two weeks of May and apply a high nitrogen fertiliser to encourage good growth.
At Overbury we are growing a rare Perry pear called Dumbleton, which this year I have hand pollinated to hopefully produce its first fruit (please keep your fingers crossed for me). In order to do this I have taken pollen from another category 3 flowering pear and introduced the pollen using a paintbrush as seen below. Feel free to contact me for more information - Leigh: 07795 842063.
