Another lovely gardening week with some rain and lots of dry weather, even if it was getting a little warm by the end of the week.
We have been catching up in the veg patch where the recent rain has given us our first radishes and carrots but has also encouraged seemingly trifid-like growth of weeds.
It is difficult to keep up at this time of the year if you have herbaceous borders and a veg patch.
Everything is growing so fast and there are sweet peas to pick, roses to deadhead, annuals to stake, dahlias to plant out.
Advanced Practical Gardening looking at Clematis Hyde Hall (Image: Norfolk School of Gardening) And just as the greenhouse is being emptied of annuals and veg seedlings there are also more seeds to be sown.
This is the perfect time of year to sow biennials such as foxgloves, honesty, sweet rocket and Sweet William which will flower next summer.
It is also time to sow more carrots, radishes and salad as well as the last beans and courgettes.
You could also get going with cabbage and broccoli for winter harvest now.
Advanced Practical Gardening softwood cuttings (Image: Norfolk School of Gardening) The classroom has been buzzing this week.
The Diploma in Garden Design students are working on their final assignment, which is their biggest yet.
It is a large country garden, with a brief which includes a wildlife pond and a strong emphasis on sustainability.
If you are interested in this excellent one-year course or are perhaps considering hiring a garden designer for your own garden we would be delighted to invite you to their end of year show and graduation.
Email us for an invitation at info@norfolkschoolofgardening.co.uk.
Peony Karl Rosenfield (Image: Norfolk School of Gardening) Two of the Diploma students, Laura Strand and Sam Strand-Kemp, are particularly busy right now as they have been selected by the RHS to design and build a show garden at RHS Hampton Court Flower Show in early July.
Their garden is sponsored by Norfolk stone carver Teucer Wilson.
If you are going to Hampton Court do go and say hello.
Laura and Sam have teamed up, not only for this show garden, but also to launch garden design business, Stark Strand Garden Design, which we expect to be very busy after they graduate next month.
June’s Advanced Practical Gardening course took place this week and was as packed as ever, with students potting up cuttings they took last autumn, carrying out summer pruning jobs, learning how to plant trees in early summer and discovering kitchen cabinet recipes to control pests and diseases.
The final session this term is on 2nd July but we start again in September so if you are an experienced gardener, keen to learn more, do get in touch.
These are some of the upcoming courses which have spaces available.
Let us know if you’d like to join us:
· Developing an Annual Maintenance Plan – 25th June
· Summer Pruning – 26th June
· Advanced Practical Gardening – 2nd July
· Introduction to Garden Design – 11th September
· Certificate in Practical Horticulture – 12th September
· Plants for Free – 24th September
Salvia x sylvestris ‘Mainacht’ (Image: Norfolk School of Gardening) Plant of the Week
Salvia x sylvestris ‘Mainacht’ is a striking, compact salvia for the herbaceous border, producing masses of flower stems topped by spikes of violet-purple flowers from early to midsummer which constantly buzz with bumblebees and other pollinators.
Unlike some salvias it is fully hardy.
The felty leaves are finely toothed with pronounced veining.
It can either be grown among other upright plants, or be used to contrast with more angular, architectural groupings.
It looks particularly good planted next to shrubs and perennials with dark or silver leaves and works well planted en masse as an edging plant at the front of a border.
Contact us via www.norfolkschoolofgardening.co.uk or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.