To add instant colour to your border in late summer, penstemons are the answer.
Plant in groups of three or five for impact and most will continue to flower up until the first frost. They like moist but free-draining soil, in full sun to partial shade.
Feed weekly and mulch with well-rotted manure or leaf mould. And as penstemons are short-lived perennials that can suffer in the winter, it is best leaving cutting them back until spring after the last frost.
It’s also a good idea to take summer cuttings. Select soft growth without a flower.
Take each cutting back to below a leaf joint and remove the lower leaves, place around the edge of a pot, place in a sheltered position in the garden or in a cold frame. They should be ready to plant out next May. More than one cutting can be put into a pot of multi-purpose compost as long as the leaves don’t touch.
Give peas a chance to grow
For the sweetest taste of summer, nothing beats picking peas when they’re young and fresh… ideally daily, to keep plants producing flowers and pods.
If you leave them for a few days the pods will mature and the plants will stop cropping, as they’ve done their job of providing seeds.
So keep on picking to keep the pods coming.
Net yourself a bumper crop of raspberries
Protec your raspberry crop from hungry birds by stretching some netting over a frame above them. Just make sure the mesh size is large enough to let pollinating insects in and keep it taught so that birds can’t get inside.
Netting will also provide a little shade from the strong sun. Raspberries, like brambles, come from woodland edges, so do well in shade. Keeping your plants stress-free allows the fruit to swell and ripen, rewarding you with the tastiest crop
Get the most of your garden with minimum effort
Enjoy a beautiful garden without the hard work with these low maintenance ideas.
Most of us want a garden we can actually enjoy, somewhere to sit with a cuppa on a summer morning, or a space that looks cared for without having to worry about maintenance every weekend. But not all of us have the time or the gardening know how to spend on our outdoor space; we all live busy lives and sometimes simplicity is the way forward. These simple ideas are ones anyone can try.
Mulching
One afternoon spend mulching an save hours of weeding over the months that follow.
A layer of bark chippings, or garden compost spread over borders suppresses weeds before they get started, locks moisture into the soil so you water less often and gradually improves the soil structure as it breaks down. Ideally this should be done spring or autumn, and keep it clear of plant stems.
Add shrubs and ground cover plants
Shrubs are among the most underrated plants in a low maintenance garden, giving you year-round structure and seasonal interest with very little in return
Viburnum tinus flowers in winter, stays evergreen all year, and barely needs pruning.
Hydrangea paniculata asks for just one cut in spring before producing spectacular blooms all summer.
For bare ground between plants, spreading ground cover like Vinca minor, Alchemilla Mollis (above) and Geranium ‘Rozanne’ (below) block out weeds naturally, letting plants do the work so you don’t have to.
Often we think gardening is too complicated, too time consuming, or that we simply don’t have the space. These ideas prove otherwise.
A pot of lavender on a doorstep, a handful of wildflower seeds scattered in a sunny corner, and a few perennials planted in a trough and left to settle in are small things that make a difference, and anyone can do them.
You don’t need expertise or hours to spare. You just need to start somewhere, and the rewards will follow very quickly.
Author: Ros
Author of What's On and Life In The Kitchen!