Gardens: Do it!

Sunday Mirror, Oct 5, 2008

EASY PLANT garlic bulbs in an open site with light, well-drained soil. Break the plumpest healthy-looking cloves from garlic bulbs and plant them two inches deep and six inches apart with the flat ends downwards.

TO speed up the rotting process in the compost bin in cool weather, add an accelerator such as a nitrogen-rich fertiliser and cover the bin with an old carpet.

SOW sweet peas in pots and keep them in a cold frame or in a sheltered part of the garden. Soak the seeds or chip them with a sharp knife to speed up germination.

EFFORT HARVEST onions, garlic and shallots as the tops begin to wither by digging under the bulbs to sever the roots. Leave them to dry in the sun for a week or more.

TIDY up flowerbeds. Dig out weeds and trim back dead flower stalks and leaves. Protect the crowns of vulnerable plants such as penstemons with deep bark mulch.

RAKE up rose leaves to prevent disease spores from hibernating in the soil ready to re-infect the plants next spring. Dispose of them in the dustbin.

TOUGH REPLACE your tatty lawn when the weather is not wet or frosty. Fork over the soil, rake and fertilise it and then level the ground before laying the new turf. Never walk on newly-laid grass.

MOVE evergreen shrubs or conifers to better spots. Aim to keep the roots as intact as possible and have the new planting hole prepared beforehand.

LIFT and replant congested or weed-infested clumps of hardy perennials. Divide them into smaller pieces, taken from the outer section of the plant, and replant them in freshly-prepared soil.