Page 46 - Phonebox Magazine June 2007

A Month in the Garden
Linette Applegate
Grow your own salad bag
If you have a tiny space, however small it is, you can grow your own mixed salad leaves. This year, you could rekindle the simple pleasure we all had a children, sowing seeds, watching them germinate and then serving up a simple salad mixed with a good dressing, knowing it is organic, a
fraction of the price of packaged salads, and will crop for the rest of the summer.
Several seed suppliers sell what is known as cut-and-come-again salad under different names. Some are ‘Saladisi’, ‘Leaf salad’ and ‘Misticanza’. These can be sown inside from late winter or mid spring outside right up until autumn, just fill a container, a pot, bucket, window box, or as I have, an old wine box with compost, thinly scatter the mixed seed evenly over the surface and lightly sieve a little compost over the top. Water in and eagerly await germination.
You can expect to be harvesting your first salad within 3-6 weeks depending on the weather, do this using scissors and cut cleanly across about 5cm above the soil. This way, the ‘stumps’ will re-sprout. You will just need to keep weed free, remove any brown leaves and water regularly. K
P.J.C. TREE CARE
Arborist & Forestry Contractor
Fully Qualified and Insured New Customer Discount
Tel: 01908 210257 Mobile: 07733 268438 42 Little Linford Lane, Newport Pagnell
46 Phonebox Magazine
J. D. Landscapes
Landscape Design &Construction
Qualified professionals carrying out
PAVING PRUNING WALLING DECKING
FENCING PONDS PLANTING TURFING
HEDGE/TREE/SHRUB PRUNING Call 01234 711681 - 07768 621234
This is undeniably the time of year when gardeners raise their eyes above their own boundaries and look around for inspiration from gardens open to the public, of which there are plenty to choose from. A list of local gardens open for charity is available from libraries or tourist information centres, so go on, see what your neighbours are enjoying.
Remember to keep tying in stems of climbing and rambling plants, and prune early-summer flowering shrubs such as brooms, philadelphus, and deutzias as they finish flowering. This will provide new stems for next year’s flowers.
If you have an area of naturalised spring bulbs and flowers, mow late in the month and leave the cut material in situ for a couple of days before tidying up. Allowing flower seeds to be released this way will increase the number of flowering plants in the grass. K
For more garden maintenance, advice, design, and planting ideas, visit www.applegategardens.co.uk