Growing in small pots helps gardens take control

Tomatoes are growing merrily in small three-inch pots in a position of good light and so far I have a mixture of various types, including a few normal sized red tomatoes and a small cherry-size plant plus a couple of my favourite yellow golden sunrise.

They are sweeter than the red variety and when included in a salad look really enticing when both colours are mixed.

The plants will not be fed at this stage but I will give a once-off weak solution of Epsom salts or magnesium sulphate as it is chemically known.

As the small plants grow taller, I will aim to pot them up into their final pots before the end of May - usually using 10-inch diameter pots.

It is vital that the plants are supported with canes and each morning I will give them a little shake to help pollinate the tomatoes or alternatively give the leaves a gentle spray of water like a mist.

I will water each plant evenly so that the compost will never dry out but do not feed until the little pea-like fruits appearing on the lower truss. At this point commence feeding with high potash feeding like Tomorite.

As the plant grows remove side-shoots and stop the plant once it reaches five trusses tall by nipping out the top.

Lifting and dividing Hosta

Hosta plants are perennial plants and the die off each year during the winter months and in the spring of the year they come alive again pushing up new shoots. It is useful to lift the clumps and divide them up and re-plant them either alongside where they were growing. It is also an idea to plant some of the divided roots into small pots and grow them on to give to friends, neighbours and fellow gardeners.

Some gardeners find that Hosta attract lots of slugs although I have had lots of these plants growing on an embankment for many years and have never had any eaten by them.

Planting summer bulbs

Summer flowering bulbs such as lilies can be planted and grown in small pots after you have purchased them and grown in small pots of fresh peat-free compost until they begin to grow. Lilies, in particular can be affected with red lily beetles which are easily spotted and can be picked off the plant by hand. Other summer flowering plants such as nerines and a collection of other bulbs or corms such as Gladioli and can be planted in small pots initially until they have grown a bit after which they can be potted up into larger pots ready to plant out when they can be planted either outdoors after frost is gone. Small perennial shrubs can be grown in small pots and kept in these until they are large enough to plant out in the shrub border.

Use small pots for starting popular food plants

Popular plants such as marrows can be started off in small pots and moved on into larger ones as they grow. Other items such as courgettes can begin their life in small pots and will provide plenty of crop for the vegetable harvest.

Broad beans can be put into small pots to begin with and there are many more food crops which (unless you want a large crop) such as cauliflowers, which can be grown in pots giving just sufficient crop for just single residents.

The same can be done with other members of the brassica family, and herbs can be grown in small pots individually and then incorporated into a larger herb garden which is best located near to the kitchen door.

If you don’t have a garden, many items if grown in small pots can be kept on a balcony or at a sunny windowsill.

Dead heading

Once daffodils have finished flowering it is best to take the spent flowers off from the old bulbs.

This will help the bulbs recover for flowering again next year. Do not just remove the spent bloom but look behind the flower and you will observe the seed pod which should be removed to prevent the seed draining the bulb of essential nutrient.

Where you have daffodils growing among grass, let the old flower stems die down naturally. Do not tie then in bunches and do not mow the grass but let the stems die down