Ruud Kleinpaste: Now is the time to get on with the gardening

Typical time of the year – we need to get on with Gardening in many different parts of the garden!  

My tunnel house has to be prepared for spring and summer: the plastic cover is absolutely dirty and covered with algae and grime. That means that the sunlight is reduced, and plants will struggle to get into photosynthesis.  

I usually grab my Wet-and-Forget Rapid to weaken the winter load of moss, mould, and grime so everything will brighten up and grow some decent crops, plants, and flowers. 

The next step – equally important!  

Order the seeds, bulbs, or cuttings you are wanting to plant. Not just in the glass house or tunnel house, but anywhere in the borders, along the paths, in raised beds, or simply in indoor pots, terracotta, or ceramic beauties. 

Everything will now develop to a great, young plant, ready for trans-location to your garden. Remember, the best growth is between now and Christmas!  

While you’re organising the new plants from your favourite supplier, it pays to consider getting some useful Seed Raising Mix.  

I reckon that stuff is important to get the seeds growing marvellously. Not just quicker but also providing the right fertilisers to produce strong plants that utilise the N, P, and K for the future months.  

When the plants are a lot bigger, you can always start playing with the phosphorus (root growth) and Potash (to stimulate flowering and fruiting) and Nitrogen (to get healthy leaves). 

One of the things I often forget is the hedges: pruning them is generally a pain in the proverbial, but to be honest, the more you prune the hedges, the denser they’ll become!   

We are now already a week or so too late for the first pruning (late August is great!), with a second one in October and the third in December. Every trim creates lots of new buds – hence the density in the long run. 

And then there is the last opportunity to prune some trees. While some of the “late-comers” are still without leaves, it allows you to prune them efficiently; you can see where all the branches are, so you can shape them the way you want. A decent pruning job will also create new buds lower down the tree – you can then decide how high you want that tree to grow and how dense it will be in your garden.  

The more you prune, the more “end-buds” you create – and that means that you can shape the tree exactly the way you like it.  

To be honest: this part of September is ridiculously busy, which means that I have spent far too much time writing all these notes...  

Gotta get on with it NOW. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame podcast
from News Talks at be Road.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Climb passes our man in the garden.

Speaker 3 (00:14):
Good morning, A good morning Jack. You're right gardening time again.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah, it's time to time to create the work a
little bit.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
That's while we got saying that. Yeah, yeah, so that's it,
so okay. So I mean, honestly, I'm one of the
slowest persons, slower than continental drifts sometimes when it comes
to making decisions. But here are a couple of really
important ones. My tuble house always gets dirty at the
top and it's grime and elbe and rubbish, and to
be quite honest, that stops the light coming in and

(00:47):
making photosynthesis opening because it's slightly darker than normal, or
quite a bit darker than normal. Very simple with me.
I'm from the old wedding forget stable. So I put
the report on and literally get rid of the stuff
on top of my plastic cover. And that's It's just
an important thing you need to do every year. So

(01:07):
that's number one. Number two, seeds, cuttings, bulbs, all that
sort of stuff is too is something you need to
get now because from now on the best growth of
new cuttings will be between now and Christmas. I know
it's in some areas it's a bit slower, but you
know what I mean as an awkward especially in awklard.

(01:28):
You can have a go right now everything while you'll
be fine. You'll have to start doing that right now.
That's a very important point. Now do you know have you?
Do you ever use seed raising mix?

Speaker 2 (01:41):
I don't, no.

Speaker 3 (01:43):
See this is funny because I you never used either,
because I used popping mix and things. But I have
come to the conclusion that seed raising mix is actually
very good, especially is what we just talked about seeds
and bulbs and cuttings, because seed raising the seed raising
mixes got the right ENDPK and as long as you
don't over water it up, make sure don't go over

(02:05):
the top, don't over But seed raising mix is the
one that the quickest way to get your young plants
to grow, and when they're a bit bigger, you can
start putting phosphors on and potation nitrogen if you need to,
depending on for whataches. But now, is seed raising mix
always good?

Speaker 4 (02:21):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (02:22):
I'll recommend that.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
Okay, Yeah, that's the one.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
Number number three lazy me hedges. The problem with hedges
is no, it's not a problem. The problem with me
it's then if you don't do your hedges on a
regular basis, they become quite open if you like.

Speaker 4 (02:40):
If you prune them regularly, the hedges will become a
lot denser, They get far more site shoots down below,
and it means your head becomes really nice and dense.
So I think it's really important to realize, even though
it might be still cool and it doesn't grow very well,
start pruning it right now late August great from now on,

(03:02):
and then October and again in December if you like,
and you trim them the whole time through. Yeah, And
number four is very who Number five is very simple.
I've got some trees that are still without leaves, and
it's okay because if you now climb on your ledder,
you can actually see where the branches are very easily,
and you can then prune them and shape them exactly

(03:25):
how you want them. And that is really important because
then you can make them as beautiful as you want.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
Nice.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
How are you we pleased tonight that the eight year
old and may go out every morning and we've been
mapping over the last couple of weeks, every morning going
out and watching the magnolia bushes now front yard and
saying is today, yesterday, the day is today? The day
Tuesday was the day the first blow me of the season.
And of course you know once one goes, they all go,
so you know, it becomes a it's like a contagion

(03:53):
and the best possible way. So yes, as you say,
springers upon us, now is the time to act. Beg you, sir,
road clime past in the garden for us.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
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