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At Hillingdon Adult and Community learning we offer a wide range of Horticulture qualification courses from Entry 3 through to RHS Level 2. Our gardening for enjoyment and personal development include workshops and 10 week courses for all levels of ability.
Our horticulture courses are on a break and we plan to start new courses in September 2020. For information contact brookfield@hae-acl.ac.
uk .Gardening is a great exercise for the mind and the body. Studies have shown that gardening decreases the chances of depression, lowers blood pressure and decreases cholesterol levels in blood. Gardening is also helpful when it comes to stress. It is a fulfilling career, hobby and a great way of seeking relaxation.
July
Summer is progressing
This is often one of the hottest months of the year and a great time to sit out and enjoy your garden. Keep plants looking good by regularly dead-heading, and you'll enjoy a longer display of blooms. Make sure you keep new plants well watered, using grey water where possible, and hoe off weeds, which thrive in the sunshine.
Top 10 jobs this month (info from the RHS)
Deadhead bedding plants and repeat-flowering perennials, to ensure continuous flowering
Clear algae, blanket weeds and debris from ponds, and keep them topped up
Give the lawn a quick-acting summer feed, especially if not given a spring feed
General care
Fruit
Protect fruit blossom from frost, but make sure insects can access the flowers or else hand pollinate them.
Apply a nitrogen feed to plums, cherries, cooking apples and pears as they’re hungry feeders.
Switch to a summer feed for all citrus trees.
Increase the watering of citrus as growth resumes.
Pollinate strawberry flowers under glass by brushing over them with your hands.
Mulch raspberries, blueberries, cranberries and lingonberries with well-rotted farmyard manure (not mushroom compost as it is too alkaline).
Apply a high nitrogen feed to blackcurrants.
Apply sulphur chips to beds of blueberries, cranberries, and lingonberries if needed.
Apply a mulch around fruit trees, nuts, and bushes as long as the ground isn’t frozen.
Re pot or top dress container-grown fruit if needed.
Vegetables
Cultivate and prepare seedbeds, covering them with clear polythene or fleece to warm up the soil before sowing.
Protect early outdoor sowings with fleece and polythene.
Feed crops that have been standing all winter.
Continue to force chicory.
Put supports in place for peas.
Start preparing runner bean supports and trenches for sowing (in May) or planting out (in June).
Prepare celery trenches.
Try to avoid digging in wet weather, but if gardening on wet soil, work from a plank of wood, to avoid treading on the bed and compacting the soil.