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Thinning

Fruit trees naturally drop excess fruit in early summer. This is sometimes referred to as the "June drop". However, nature sometimes needs a helping hand if fruit is going to fully ripen, and biennial cropping and broken branches from heavy yields are to be avoided. Therefore thin apples and pears in midsummer, unless fruit yields have already been seriously reduced by early frosts. Do this for apples by removing the king apple, which is the fruit at the centre of the cluster of fruit and is generally misshapen. Thin dessert apples to leave one or two fruits every 10-12cm (4—Sin), and cooking apples to leave one fruit every 15-20cm (6-8in). On free-standing pear trees, thin fruits out to two fruits every 10-12cm (4—Sin), and on restricted forms such as cordons and espaliers to one fruit every 10-12cm (4—Sin).

Watering

Water apples and pears during dry spells and from when the fruit starts to swell, particularly if they are newly planted or on restricted root stocks. The most effective method of doing this for rows of fruit trees is to place a drip line or seep hose under the trees. Large, established trees will be more resistant to periods of drought.

Feeding

In early spring, sprinkle a balanced general fertilizer n early spring around the root zone, following the manufacturer's instructions.

Maypoling

Trees heavily laden with fruit may require support as the fruits swell and develop. Maypoling is a popular method with spindle trees , whereby strings are looped around the centre of the branches and tied upwards to the top of the posts. Alternatively, stake individual branches if they look as though they may break.

Summer pruning

To stimulate fruit bud initiation, cut back any over vigorous trees in late summer. (Winter pruning encourages vegetative growth.) Restricted forms such as cordons, fans, and espaliers should also be pruned in late summer.
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Basic Pruning Of Fruit Trees

STAKING
Any fruit tree that is to be planted in the open ground, as opposed to against a wall or fence, will require staking to ensure that it stays upright and is able to carry a crop of heavy fruit. Use treated, round stakes it is harder to tie a tree tightly to a square stake and the corners can damage the tree.

Although there is a fashion among ornamental gardeners for stakes angled at 45 degrees, they can look cumbersome and untidy if planting a row of fruit trees. They can also be a trip hazard if hidden among flower beds. Upright stakes are far easier to get close to the root system, and as most trees are planted bare root it is easier to get the stake into the right position. A 45-degree stake is always needed for containerized plants so the root ball is not damaged. Such an angled stake is usually driven into the ground after planting, while an upright one should be inserted in the ground prior to planting. Both types of stake should be positioned on the side from which the prevailing wind comes. This is to prevent the tree from being blown onto the stake and so damaged.

On a spindle tree it is essential that the upright stake is as tall as the eventual height of the tree, which may eventually reach 2.5m (8ft). Such a tree requires two tree ties — one placed about half way up the tree and another about two-thirds from the top of the tree.

Bush and standard trees require a shorter stake, usually reaching to just below the crown (or top four or five buds on a maiden whip). It should be tied close to the top of the stake.

Use tree ties with padding to prevent the tree from rubbing against the stake. A pair of tights can be a useful, cheaper alternative because they are flexible and will also cushion the tree from the stake. String or stretchy elastic should only be used for tying in new growth and should be removed each year. Tree ties should never be over tight. Check them each winter and loosen if necessary.
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How To Make A Beautiful Garden

In many parts of the world verandahs do much the same job and form the perfect link between inside and out. Being roofed they provide shelter from sun and rain alike, but being open to the garden on the one hand and the building on the other gives a fluid transition between the two. Very often the flooring materials are the same, reinforcing the link. A raised verandah with broad steps dropping down to the garden not only gives you an excellent view but also a comfortable feeling of well being as you are slightly divorced from the wider environment.

Coming back to the wider, or higher, issue of walls dominating a garden as they soar above you, there is a useful trick that is well worth remembering. In such a situation I often define the vertical limit of the yard with overheads, or a similar structure. Then I paint everything below the overheads in a color, usually a pale shade to maximize light in what can often be a shady spot. This has the instant effect of containing the view within the outside room: the overheads and perhaps even a small tree providing a partial ceiling. Once you have set this upper limit, the walls above are far less noticeable and everything below can become part of a more intimate garden space. Overheads are not the only thing you can use; awnings provide a link with color schemes inside the house and have the effect of filtering light into soft shade. You don't necessarily need an expensive canopy; a cotton throw tossed over a simple structure can look great and be just as effective.

Shelter
I'm forever reminding people that it is lack of shelter that can make living outside uncomfortable, whether this be from sun or a chill wind. Think of an al fresco restaurant that is so delightful in the summer with tables on the pavement. However. with the onset of autumn, blinds will be attached to the sides for protection and overhead healers fitted so that dining can continue in the open for as long as possible. In a garden, one side of your overhead beams might be filled in with a low wall, say lm (3ft 3in) high, with built-in seating and the space above fitted with vertical slats that carry a fragrant climber. In a wider garden a screen could be built out at right angles from a fence or boundary wall, again offering a place for a sheltered seat or larger sitting area.We enjoy living outside, so use these same techniques at home to prolong the pleasure — you might even save a little on restaurant bills.

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Greenhouse Gardening

Cold frames

A cold frame is handy if you grow a lot of frost-tender plants that need hardening off before you can plant them out in spring. You can't take frost-tender bedding plants out of a warm greenhouse and expect them to acclimatize to outdoor conditions overnight. Hardening off lets them get accustomed to moving air and fluctuating temperatures gradually.

Stand the plants out in the cold frame 4-5 weeks before you expect the last frost, open the lid every morning and shut it each night. If it's going to be cold overnight, cover the lid of the frame with hessian or several old newspapers for insulation. If you don't have a cold frame, the alternative is to move plants out of the greenhouse on fine days and move them back at night for 2-3 weeks before it's safe to plant them out. Choose a spell of settled, mild, still weather to plant out tender plants.

A cold frame is also a good place to propagate hardy annuals and perennials from seed, or strike semi-ripe cuttings taken later in summer. With its lid open, use it to grow on young plants, such as polyanthus, cyclamen or winter bedding, during summer; these are plants that need intensive care but at lower temperatures than they'd have under glass. Once you have a cold frame, you'll find it invaluable for all sorts of 'overflows' from the greenhouse.
Other handy propagating kit

If you only propagate plants occasionally, you can get by just using seed trays with rigid plastic lids — unheated propagators that keep seeds and cuttings humid and protect seedlings from draughts and pests. Alternatively, make your own propagating covers by cutting the bottom off plastic bottles and sitting them over the top of flowerpots — unscrew the cap for ventilation.

In the garden, you can root a lot of easy cuttings in summer in well-prepared ground in an odd corner of the garden underneath a plastic cloche — or plant out single cuttings and push a bottle- propagator into the ground over each one.
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Gardening With Wild flowers

Greenhouse crops

There's a lot of satisfaction to be had from growing something to eat under glass. All those I've listed here are summer crops, but if you can turn on some heat in spring and autumn, they'll have a longer cropping season, which means bigger total yields.

Tomatoes (1) produce roughly 3kg (71b) of fruit per plant under cold glass, and up to 7kg (151b) if you plant early in a heated greenhouse. Both greenhouse and outdoor cultivars can be grown under glass, but greenhouse types really need warmth. Upright, cordon cultivars take up less room than the bush kinds. In an unheated house, it should be safe to plant in late April or early May; you'll be picking ripe fruit from early July onwards. If you turn the heat up to 10°C (50°F) at night, you can plant in late March and start picking around early June, but they'll be expensive tomatoes. It's more economical to plant in late April and turn on the heat to 5-7°C (40-45°F) as the nights turn cold in autumn — you'll have tomatoes almost till Christmas.

After planting, water plants lightly to start with. Tie each plant to a 2m (6ft) cane as it grows and remove side shoots as they appear. After the first flower opens, water more and feed regularly with liquid tomato feed. Leave tomatoes on the plants until they turn red, so the full flavor develops. Don't remove the bottom leaves until they turn yellow — it doesn't make the fruit ripen any faster. Nip the plants' tops out eight weeks before you want to pull them out at the end of the season; it helps partly developed tomatoes swell and ripen, so you're not left with a lot of little green ones.

Figs (2) fruit best when their roots are confined in a 38-45cm (15-18in) pot; when they are given a free root-run, all they grow is masses of leaves. Plant a fig tree in spring or summer, using John Innes No. 2 potting compost. Train it into a fan shape, by nipping out misplaced shoots while they're tiny. Stand the tree flat against the greenhouse wall, where it won't take up much room. In summer, feed it regularly with liquid tomato feed and water heavily, especially when the fruits are swelling. Prune in mid-winter when it is dormant. Just reduce the size and improve the shape, so it doesn't get out of hand. No heat is needed if you grow 'Brown Turkey' or 'Brunswick'.
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Flowering Shrubs And Their Important Characteristics

Scented shrubs
Shrubs with scented flowers add oomph to whatever else is looking good at the time. Plant them in a sheltered spot so that the fragrance doesn't blow away; the warmer and more still the air is, the more powerfully the scent will build up.

Filling in the fine detail
Trees, evergreens and flowering shrubs provide the background to the garden and some seasonal highlights, but what makes the ever- changing tapestry of colors are the flowers — roses, herbaceous perennials, bulbs, annuals, alpines and exotics.

Making plant associations

The smaller flowers are the next plants to add as your planting develops, but it's no good just picking your favorites and hoping they'll look good together, because they probably won't. You need to create plant associations — attractive groups — so that each plant shows its own best points, but also brings out the best in its neighbors. The one thing I'd always do if you are buying plants for a particular bed is to stand them in a group at the garden centre to see how they look together. At home, stand them in position on the actual spot and rearrange them as necessary until you hit the winning combination. Making good plant combinations is an art that grows on you with practice, but a few tips come in very handy for starters. It takes me ages to get it right, sometimes — but I still get a lot of pleasure out of doing it.

Contrast, contrast, contrast

Designers don't see things the same way as gardeners. Where we see a good plant, what they see is texture, height, shape, size and color. When you make plant associations, try to think more like a designer, and leave your horticultural appreciation for later.

The aim is to put plants together that contrast well. Go for contrasts of shape and texture first. A tall, upright, bony-looking plant, such as bamboo, looks good with a large, prickly, horizontal leaf, such as those of gunnera. Strappy-leaved phormium looks great with a low, creeping carpet at its feet. Contrast shiny evergreens with rough-textured trunks or prickly stems. Big, round flower shapes, like those of the ornamental alliums, stand out well against a background of small, frothy, filler-flowers and upright spikes.
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Gardening With Flowering Plants

Trees with attractive bark

In winter, when the leaves have fallen, trees with exceptional bark are the ones that stand out most in the garden. Even if you don't have acres to play with, it's worth trying to find room for a small one.

Acer capillipes is one of the snake-bark maples, so called because of the wavy, grey-green stripes running up and down the trunk. The leaves are three-pointed maple leaves that turn bright red in autumn and, in spring, the young shoots are bright red too, so there are plenty of seasonal attractions. It makes a dome-shaped tree that eventually gets to the larger side of medium, but it's slow growing, so anticipate 4.5 x 4.5m (15 x 15ft).

Eucalyptus species include many with very striking, flaking bark that leaves peculiar stripy, piebald and python-skin patterns, and the best of these is probably Eucalyptus pauciflora subsp. niphophi/a, the snow gum. The older, thicker trees are the ones that have the most characteristic bark patterns, so leave them unpollarded. This means you'll have quite a large tree, as it grows fast and reaches maybe 6 x 4.5m (20 x 15ft) or more, but it doesn't cast much shade. Older trees often lean over and grow into angular architectural shapes, which makes them good as 'character' specimen trees.

Betula species make good, small to medium-sized garden trees, but if I was only allowed one it would have to be Betula

utilis var. jacquemontii, Jacquemont's birch. It has the typical open, spreading birch form and, like other birches, doesn't cast a lot of shade. What's special about it is the peeling bark that is dazzling white: I wash mine twice a year! In theory it can grow quite tall but, in gardens, it'll take a long time to grow to more than 10 x 4.5m (30 x 15ft).

Flowering trees

Everyone goes mad over lilac and cherry blossom in spring, but these are not always the best flowering trees to go for — in a windy situation, the flowers last no time at all and, if the weather is wet at flowering time the petals turn brown, so you might only see them at their best one year in three. Don't let me put you off if you like them, but don't say I didn't warn you.

Buddleja afterlife (1) is a relative of the butterfly bush (Buddleja davidii). Left to itself it makes a big, untidy shrub; it's much better trained on a single stem to make a tree. It then grows into a rounded mushroom sort of shape, and has clusters of scented lavender flowers arranged along semi-trailing stems in early summer. It'll make about 3.6 x 2.4m (12 x 8ft), which makes it suitable for most small gardens. Best at the back of a border.

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