Herald - Issue 409

v THE HERALD - ENCOURAGING LOCAL ENTERPRISE v 15th July 2021 • The HERALD • Page 57 RYAN FENCING Quality Fencing & Gates 07769 706516 • 023 8084 1203 www.ryan-fencing.co.uk • Find us on Facebook 07879 552227 www.crowngardensandlandscapes.co.uk info@crowngardensandlandscapes.co.uk A family run business with over 20 years experience. Our teams of professional, friendly and reliable Gardeners and Landscapers are passionate about gardening and landscaping to very high standards of presentation and quality workmanship. Garden Maintenance Leaf Clearance Summer Tidy Up Hedges Borders Weeds Pressure Washing Landscaping Design Patios Artificial Lawns Decking Fencing Garden Repairs Your specialist Landscape and Garden Maintenance service, based in Hythe. Here to support the design, creation and maintenance of your perfect and personal outdoor space. | DOWN THE GARDEN PATH | Crown Gardens has Expanded Again! by Crown Gardens & Landscapes now take on new garden projects from September 2021. It’s a really exciting time for us, as we’re employing more local people (and promoting the ones we have) and making a di erence to gardens and lives across Southampton, the New Forest and Waterside. anks to our expansion, we’ve just taken on a large composite decking project, a tur ng job and a small patio and garden fence replacement – it doesn’t matter if your job is big or small, we can work our green- ngered magic and turn your garden into a special space for you to enjoy. Late summer and early autumn is still a great time to get things done in your garden before winter sets in – so if you’ve been on the fence about tackling those garden jobs then we’re here to help. Our three teams of landscapers and two teams of garden maintenance are here to take on whatever you need. “We are thrilled with how our new garden looks. We still cannot believe the transformation, we really do love our new garden and I know we will be enjoying it for many years to come. Thanks to the team at Crown Gardens for making our dreams come true.” Call us on 07879 552227 or email us at: info@crowngardensandlandscapes. co.uk if you’re ready to make some changes. anks to all of your wonderful support, it’s been a very busy year for us. Since the rst lockdown in March 2020, we’ve gone from three teams to ve, meaning that we now have more time to t in your garden transformations. With so many more of you spending time at home and spending money on improving your gardens ( e UK spent £3.7 billion on gardening during the rst lockdown!), we were struggling to keep up with demand and our project lead time was way into 2022. And we weren’t alone. If you’ve tried to get any work done to your home or garden lately, you’ll probably know that tradespeople are inundated – with the Construction Leadership Council attributing this to “unprecedented levels of demand”. Some tradespeople’s schedules are fully booked up to a year in advance. But with the further addition of a new team of landscapers, we’ve managed to bring forward all those projects (much to the delight of our customers!) and can Trees and Shrubs Advice from RHS Pruning and training Prune June- owering shrubs such as Philadelphus and Weigela a er owering. Prune deciduous Magnolias if necessary. Fast-growing hedges such as Leyland Cypress should be clipped as necessary throughout the growing season. Tie-in climbers and ramblers as they grow. Propagation Take semi-ripe cuttings of shrubs such as Choisya, Hydrangea and Philadelphus. Root them in pots of gritty compost in a cold frame or even with a plastic bag tied over them. Clematis can be propagated by taking internodal cuttings (i.e. taking stem sections above and below a leaf, rather than cutting the stem immediately below a leaf joint). Air-layering is another method of propagation that can be used for some climbers, such as Akebia, and some shrubs, such as Magnolia. General maintenance Look out for tall, owering stalks on established bamboos and remove them promptly. Flowering can weaken the plants, as well as being unsightly. Ensure newly planted trees and shrubs do not dry out. ey o en need much more water than people imagine. Remove rose suckers and tree suckers. Pest and disease watch Brown patches on conifers may indicate an earlier infestation by the cypress aphids. Telltale signs include black sooty mould along the stems and shed skin cases. Spraying earlier in the summer may have helped, but once damage is done, conifers can take a long time to recover. Where hedges are a ected prune out brown shoots and tie in neighbouring branches to help ll the gaps. ickened and curled margins on bay trees (Laurus nobilis) are a sign of damage by the bay sucker. Scale insects can also a ect bays at this time of year. Neat circular areas removed from the edges of rose and other leaves are telltale signs of leaf-cutter bees at work. ese fascinating creatures are best tolerated since damage is rarely severe. Yellow and distorted leaves on cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus) indicate a powdery mildew problem. You may notice damage to leaves of Viburnum by Viburnum beetles. e damage is not usually bad enough to warrant treatment. Woodlands Gardening Club meets on the second Tuesday of the month, meetings start at 7.30pm at Trinity Church in Totton, and their next meeting takes place on Tuesday 14th September for a talk by Gill Southwell titled ‘Solitary Bees’. Visitors will be very welcome at £2.50; for more information about the club, call Susanna 023 8029 2953. Solitary Bees