Category Archives: News

Simple Tips To Protect Your Garden From Heat Damage

Now that the sunshine has finally decided to grace us with its presence it’s time to turn your attention to your garden.

With the warmer weather here you are no doubt itching to get out and enjoy your green space as much as possible, and make sure that your plants, shrubs, and flowers look their best to provide an oasis of calm filled with the rustling of leaves, the buzzing of bees and bursts of vivid colour that brighten every day.

Of course, this beautiful scene can quickly turn sour if you don’t make an effort to care and protect your garden from the damage that the sun can cause. While most plants and flowers welcome sunshine, one too many scorching days can see bright blooms crumble, lush leaves curl and green grasses turn dry and brown.

So what can you do to ensure your garden stays protected from too much sun? Here are some simple but very useful tips.

Mulching is a top priority

Mulch can be a lifesaver when it comes to protecting plants from the harsh rays of the sun. Reflective kinds work particularly well as they will deflect the suns rays.

Effective mulch will also help with water retention saving you time and money by reducing the amount of evaporation and ensuring that roots remain happy and healthy.

Water early

We all know the health benefits of drinking a big glass of water to rehydrate you on wakening – well, believe it or not, this is exactly what your garden needs too. Early morning watering can help keep roots of your garden plants and flowers hydrated enough to last through the day. Preempting before the sun gets at it’s hottest will help prevent heat stress (which is essentially like sunburn for us). It’s also cooler in the mornings so the water will have time to sink into the soil rather than evaporating off the surface. If the day has been unusually hot, you can always choose to give the garden additional water in the late afternoon or early evening too.

Provide your plants with shade

One of the easiest and most logical ways to protect your plants from the sun is to get them out of it. If you know there is a particularly dry and warm spell approaching; you can take preemptive action by using shade cloth and row covers to protect vulnerable plants. Make sure that you still allow your garden to breathe and grow underneath, and there are gaps for helpful insects such as needs to get under and work their magic too. You could also use the shade already provided in your garden to protect younger, more vulnerable plants by moving them under larger, well-established ones who will act as ‘big brothers’ and keep them safe from the worst of the sun.

Plant seeds more deeply

If you were hoping to get some late planting done, you don’t have to avoid it just because the sun is out. Simply plant the seeds slightly deeper down in high-quality, nutrient-dense soil and this will ensure when their root systems establish, they do so in damper, cooler soil that hasn’t been dried out by the sun.

While we all love the warmer weather, just remember, your garden may need a little extra TLC. So use the tips above to protect your garden from heat damage this summer and you’ll ensure it looks fantastic all season!

Get Your Garden Wildlife-Ready This Spring

Now that the warmer weather is upon us sitting out in the garden can be pleasant. What better way to enjoy the fresh air and the great outdoors than observing the natural wildlife that passes through or decides to set up camp in your garden? Birds, bees, insects and even hedgehogs can all thrive in your garden, given a little encouragement and to see it teeming with life is one of the greatest pleasures any gardener can have.

So what can you do to get your garden wildlife-ready this spring?

Attract more bees

Bees are incredibly important to our planet, and unfortunately, their numbers have sufficiently declined in recent years. To attract more bees provide colourful flowers such as lavender, poppies, and cornflowers. Wildflower seeds offer a great range of bright flowers and give gardens a beautiful rustic look. Bees are also fond of herbs such as thyme and marjoram, and the faint hum of buzzing bees can really be quite cathartic!

Encourage the butterflies

Vibrant butterflies fluttering around your garden adds colour and magic, so make sure you make your garden a haven for them. Butterflies are also fans of colour so get planting lots of blooms to bring them in. Butterflies also like to rest and do a little sunbathing of their own, and large flat stones can provide them with just the spot. Creating moist, shaded areas and small puddles for them to drink from can also see your garden become a favourite haunt of the butterfly.

Bring in the birds

Birds will naturally be attracted to anywhere they can get an easy meal, so set up bird feeders filled with seeds, raisins, and nuts to help make your green space full of beautiful birdsong. Remember to leave them some fresh water too, and you’ll soon see birds flocking to your garden for a tasty treat.

Invite the insects

Insects love cool, dark places to rest and shelter so leave large stones in shady, earthy areas and you’ll create the perfect pad for creepy crawlies such as woodlice, beetles, and caterpillars to rest.

Welcome the hedgehogs

If you have a larger outside space, you might think about inviting hedgehogs to come and visit. If your garden is enclosed, you can remove a small section of fencing to allow them to pass through. Food such as jellied dog or cat food can entice these woodland creatures in – but remember not to give them milk or bread as this can cause them to become quite ill. To ensure that other, more pesky animals don’t take advantage of the free food, you can put it in a plastic box
measuring greater than 30x40cm. You can cut a hole big enough for a hedgehog to get in but place a heavy stone on top to ensure foxes, seagulls and so on can’t overturn it.

Remember slug pellets can poison hedgehogs and if you have a pond, make sure you create some ‘ramp’ areas so if hedgehogs fall in they can crawl out again.

By following the tips above you can attract a wide range of wildlife and create a beautiful, radiant space where nature can thrive.

Do you have any tips for attracting wildlife to your garden? Share them with us here!

10 Money-Saving Gardening Tips Part two

Last year, we took you through our top 10 money-saving gardening tips for our thrifty customers, from money management to researching your landscape supplier properly. However, a gardeners work is never done, and every season presents fresh opportunities to plan ahead! So, if you’re a beginner looking to cut costs or you need a tips top up, you’ve come to the right blog.

1. First, preserve leftover seeds

Seed packets may be small on size but many are big on price – the rarer or more popular the flower, for example, the more expensive they are to grow from seed. One of the easiest ways to cut down on seed expenditure every year is to store all your packets and leftover seeds (because you will always have some left over). Airtight plastic containers and glass jars are best, in a cool dry area away from direct sunlight.

2. Or, collect seeds to use again next year

Collecting flower and vegetable seeds at the end of their growing season will keep your seed collection topped up every year without having to head to the gardening centre. It’s not difficult to do, and some plant seeds are easier than others to harvest. Here’s a quick list of seed-saving vegetables to consider:

Peppers
Melons
Squash
Aubergines
Cucumber
Tomato

The smaller the seed, the bigger the hassle. But trust us, storing home-grown seeds is very satisfying – and frugal!

3. Learn how to take and grow cuttings

You don’t have to wait until a flower or fruit has lost its luster until you can start creating money-saving tips. As soon as plants begin to grow additional stems and shoots, there’s potential to take cuttings to grow on, sell or barter with friends. Here’s a quick tree cuttings guide, for example, to note:

Softwood cuttings: late spring, early summer
Semi-hardwood: midsummer after flowering
Hardwood: end of summer

4. Buy mulch in bulk

If you’ve decided that you’re a minimalist gardener – more interested in materials and practicality- consider using attractive materials in bulk like woodchip and bark to spread around the garden. Bulk buying is often a cheaper, easier and quicker solution for this type of garden project.

5. Shop comparitably

There are plenty of online comparison sites to choose from, selling everything from garden furniture and features to tools and lawnmowers. So shop around to find the cheapest prices on the market, alongside seasonal deals and sales.

6. Avoid overplanting

It’s easy to burden a big flower or vegetable bed with too many plants all at once to achieve a mature, lively scene straight away. As a rule, start with the bigger plants at the back and work your way forward in size until you reach the front, leaving enough room around each plant so they’re not constantly competing for light and nutrients.

7. Test your soil

If you go on a spending spree before testing your soil – what nutrients your soil lacks and its pH – your plants may not be suited to the conditions and will eventually wither, no matter how much you feed them. Test your soil and plan a planting scheme accordingly, like you would with shady and sunny spots in the garden. Consider using specialist soils to give your beds a boost.

8. Try natural, DIY feeds

We’re big fans of trying natural products in the garden when you can. Our pH-neutral organic soil conditioner, for example, is used by customers who want to improve their soil without potentially damaging chemicals.

Natural options to include in the garden include:

Making your own weed killer
Making your own compost
Save your grass clippings to use on your lawn as a DIY feed

9. Get free advice or speak with an expert

If you’re looking for extra ways to be creative in the garden, there’s a wealth of free knowledge online, at your local library or in free magazine supplements to get you started. Alternatively, as we pointed out in our earlier post, investing an hour or so with a landscaping expert to discuss your project to avoid mistakes is often good value for money over the long-term

10. Finally, use water wisely

Rather than add to your water bill during the summer when tending to your garden, collect water from other sources where you can. Installing a water butt, or leaving open containers around the garden to collect rainwater, is quick and easy. Additionally, watering directly on the soil rather than higher up on the leaves ensures water goes to where it is needed and adding two to three inches of mulch to your soil locks in moisture for longer.

For more even more evergreen tips on how to keep your garden looking great for less, revisit our first money-saving blog.

If you’re interested in any Bury Hill product or service listed in this blog, please call our team on 01306 877 540 for more information, or use our postcode delivery finder to receive an estimated price for your order.

Loam Soil – Everything You Need To Know.

For those of us who simply want to pot some plants, to plant some shrubs, and flowers and keep our gardens looking neat and tidy, sometimes gardening can be tricky. It can quickly become overwhelming when we’re faced with gardening terms and decisions such as which soil is best, and all the things we need to do to ensure our gardens stay healthy.

While you don’t need a degree to be a good gardener, educating yourself on some aspects will help you to make sure that your garden flourishes.

One of the most basic rules of gardening is that if you want your plants to do well, you need great soil to plant it in.

This is where you may have heard the term loam soil come in.

Loam soil is what many gardening experts say you should aim for as it provides optimum conditions for most plants and flowers to grow in.

Good soil is soil that contains a healthy mix of plant boosting nutrients, that has good drainage but also retains moisture well enough that roots get a chance to suck it up, that is moist and crumbly but neither too wet or too dry, too clumpy or too soft! Yes getting the perfect soil can be tricky.

Loam soil is the ideal for growing most plants. It usually contains

- around 50% sand,
- 30 – 50 % silt, and
-10 – 25% clay

These numbers don’t have to be exact. As long as there is the same amount of sand and silt with about a 10th to a quarter of the soil’s makeup being clay, you should have a good enough mix for plants to thrive.

The reason why this mix works is that sand particles help to keep the soil loose, they are the largest of the three particle types and break up the soil well making it easy to work with. They also don’t hold onto too much moisture thus making it easy for water to drain right through the soil when it rains, or you choose to water your garden.

Clay particles are very small, however, they retain moisture far better, therefore are needed to ensure your soil stays moist enough that plant roots can access the water within it.

Silt particles help to mix the two.

The mix of particles in loamy soil means that it is rich in nutrients too, this keeps the soil healthy, and healthy soil means healthy plants. The pH balance is near to neutral, and the consistency of loam soil allows for lots of movement, so water, air and nutrients can move freely within it, again resulting in those hungry roots being easily able to reach what they need.

How do you know if you have loam soil in your garden?

Some lucky gardeners already have loamy soil in their gardens. It’s easy to test whether you have by picking up a handful of your garden soil and squeezing it between your fingers. If the sand content is too high the soil will sift through your fingers, too much silt and the soil has a more powdery consistency, too much clay and it will feel sticky and won’t absorb water well.

If you have loam soil, you should be able to form a loose ball of soil in the palm of your hand.

I don’t have loam soil – how can I create it?

You’d think just by adding more sand, silt or clay to your soil would result in loamy soil in your garden. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like this.

To achieve loamy soil, you must carefully and consistently tend to your garden. Working in some good quality organic matter each season to your existing soil will help you choose the optimum soil conditions for your garden.

Alternatively, for a fast solution, you can buy loamy soil to add to your garden for instant and impressive results.

At Bury Hill, we pride ourselves on providing a fantastic range of loamy topsoils which can be ideal to help your garden flourish. So whether you are a novice gardener or have been doing so for years, why not browse our great variety of premium grade topsoils and loams to give your green space a real boost in time for next years planting season?

Bury Hill Gardening Calendar – November Gardening Tips

November gardening tips

Winter is approaching

November sees the last of the leaves fall, frosty days and nights and often freezing rains – oh the joys of the British winter! Protecting your garden should be your priority now.

What to do in the garden in November

Plants and Flowers

Get any other plants that can’t withstand the cold inside the greenhouse now. Keep lawns and flowerbeds free from fallen leaves. Plant out winter bedding plants.

Fruit

You can prevent winter moths from damaging fruit trees by wrapping grease bands around their trunks.

Vege

You can still enjoy your own vegetables at this time year. Grow hardy winter salads in the greenhouse such as Winter Gem, winter land cress, and corn salad.

Top 5 gardening tasks for November

Raise any containers on your patio to ensure they don’t get waterlogged
Get your tulips in the ground
Insulate outdoor containers from the harsh weather – wrapping them in bubble wrap will do the trick.
Feed the birds! It’s a tough time of year for many birds so why not give them a helping hand?
Make the most of bonfire night to clear your garden debris.

For helpful tips and advice throughout the year you can Download our full 12 month calendar here

Bury Hill Gardening Calendar – October Gardening Tips

October gardening tips

The weather turns colder

October will feel noticeably colder, time to get those jumpers on when out in the garden! This is a wonderful time of year with frosts appearing and blankets of golden leaves from the trees on the ground. However there is still garden work to be done!

What to do in the garden in October

Plants and Flowers

Move more delicate plants into the greenhouse to protect from early frosts and cut back on those perennials that have started to die down.

Fruit

Reap the rewards of your autumn fruit by harvesting apples, pears and grapes.

Vege

Time to think of spring vegetables for next year! Spring cabbage should be planted out now.

Top 5 gardening tasks for October

Trim back on overgrown hedges
Prune climbing roses to ensure excellent flowering next year
Collect the final seeds from your garden for next year
Give your lawn a final mow
Give you garden a mini makeover by laying lawn turf on tired lawns

For helpful tips and advice throughout the year you can Download our full 12 month calendar here

Bury Hill Gardening Calendar – September Gardening Tips

September gardening tips

Autumn days are upon us…

September brings cooler weather and shorter days. Now is the time to enjoy your autumn harvest of fruit and vegetables and start to think about planting for next spring too.

What to do in the garden in September

Plants and Flowers

Plant your spring flowering bulbs now to have them ready for early flowering next year.

Fruit

Enjoy the abundance of autumn blackberries and raspberries and get creative with them in the kitchen.

Vege

Get the last of the potatoes out of the garden and ensure you have protected any leafy vege such as lettuce with bird proof netting.

Top 5 Gardening Tasks for September

Separate herbaceous perennials.
Gather and plant seeds from perennials as well as hardy annuals.
Protect your ponds from being clogged up by autumn leaves by covering them in netting.
Pay attention to your houseplant watering – the cooler weather means you can cut back.
Have an ‘end of summer’ clean of your greenhouse, pots and sheds to have everything ready for the coming months.

For helpful tips and advice throughout the year you can Download our full 12 month calendar here

Prevent Weeds From Taking Over Your Garden!

During the summer months, weeds can become a particular problem. While the warmer weather, combined with the rainy days that we have come to enjoy as a typical British summer, are ideal growing conditions for plants and flowers, they are also ideal growing conditions for pesky weeds which clutter your garden and can be harmful too.

Weeding your garden can be time-consuming, and even the most avid gardeners would agree that they’d rather spend their time tending to their beloved plants and flowers rather than having to spend their precious gardening time trying to keep on top of weeds.

So naturally, the ideal solution is not to have to pull out weeds, but to prevent them from growing in the first place!

While it might be impossible to completely eradicate weeds from your garden, there are certainly some things you can do to ensure they are kept to a minimum.

So if you want to prevent weeds from taking over your garden, try these helpful tips.

Try not to disturb the soil.

Many weeds live below the surface of your garden, and if left undisturbed are unlikely to see the light of day. While it may be necessary to turn over soil from time to time keep it from compacting, done too frequently and you risk exposing weed seeds to sunlight and stirring them into action! Instead, a high-quality organic mulch can do the trick and will encourage earthworms to keep the soil loose and nutrient rich – with the minimum input from you.

Suppressing weeds with a mulch is extremely useful when it comes to weed prevention. Mulches effectively smother weed seeds in the soil, preventing them from rising to the surface and being exposed to sunlight. Mulches also have the benefit of keeping the soil cool and helping it to retain moisture. Late spring is an ideal time to do this.

Weed at optimum times

If weeds to appear in your garden, to make life easier for yourself it’s a good idea to do so after a heavy downpour. When the soil is soft and wet, it will be less difficult when pulling out even more stubborn, deep rooted weeds, and can ensure you get the whole weed out, rather than breaking off the top part, only to discover a regrowth a week later!

Choose close plant spacing

If you plant the plants, shrubs and flowers you do want in your garden close together, there will be fewer gaps for those pesky weeds to emerge. When thinking about your garden design, choose plants that compliment one another and it won’t look like you have squeezed in too many.

Careful watering

Another way to prevent weeds from taking over is to avoid giving them the care they need to grow! Be careful to water the plants you want to flourish while depriving weeds of the same. Drip or soaker hoses, placed beneath a layer of mulch can work wonders, and depriving weeds of water can reduce weed-seed germination by 50 to 70 percent, so it’s definitely worth a try!

Using the above strategies can help dramatically reduce the number of weeds appearing in your garden and provide you with effective solutions to making them easier to remove when they do. So if you want to prevent weeds from taking over your garden this summer, why not give them a try?!

Bury Hill Gardening Calendar – August gardening tips

August gardening tips

Hazy days and warm summer nights…

Keep to a strict watering schedule in August and make sure you’ve got garden helpers on hand if you are planning to spend some time away from home. Prune summer-flowering shrubs to keep them neat and encourage further growth.

What to do in the garden in August

Plants and Flowers

Collect seeds from garden plants which can be used for next year’s garden. Keep soil nourished by topping up with high grade topsoil and green manures.

Fruit

Pruning fruit plants is essential at this time of year, and make sure you cut out old fruited canes on raspberries. and pot rooted strawberry runners too.

Vege

August is a great time for harvesting veggies so keep an eye on your vegetable patch, sweetcorn, broccoli, and lettuces should all be ready to enjoy.

Top 5 GardeningTasks for August

Deadhead your flowering plants on a regular basis.
Watering! Pay attention to all your plants and flowers and don’t let them dry out – but do try to recycle water where you can.
Keep ponds and water features clean and free of dirt and debris, and top them up with water if needed.
Reap the rewards of a well thought out vegetable garden and eat what you grew!
Give soil a helping hand by adding composts and green manures to keep it healthy.

For helpful tips and advice throughout the year you can Download our full 12 month calendar here

Bury Hill Gardening Calendar – July gardening tips

July gardening tips

Summer is in full swing…

July is one of the warmest months in the calendar and when gardens can be enjoyed for lazy summer reading, lunchtime BBQ’s and evening soiree’s. This is the time where you’ll want your garden looking it’s best and in order to do so you need to be on high alert for weeds, pests and parched plants.

What to do in the garden in July

Plants and Flowers

Keep weeds at bay by weeding regularly, keep plants and flowers well watered in the summer’s heat, and deadhead any flowers that need it to keep those blooms coming.

Fruit

July should see the first crops of fruit plants and trees flourish. Protect them with netting to avoid all that hard work going to waste by them being devoured by cheeky birds or pesky snails. Apricots, peaches and nectarines should be ripe for the plucking in July.

Vege

Juicy courgettes should be ready to be harvested now – make sure you get to them before they turn into marrows.

Top 5 gardening tasks for July

Keep your eye on wilting plants and flowers, particularly delicate climbers such as clematis and treat them accordingly.
Pay attention to ponds and water features and clear any algae or debris that has built up in them.
Get ahead of the game by ordering catalogues to peruse and plan for spring next year.
Give your grass a good lawn feed to keep it lush and healthy looking.
Don’t forget about your houseplants – keep them well watered and make sure they are cared for if you go away on holiday too.

For helpful tips and advice throughout the year you can Download our full 12 month calendar here