Whatever happened to Spring ? No sooner had winter ended than Summer had arrived, with flowers blooming earlier (and brighter ?) than usual,temperatures up (and down) and an unsettled period of rain and sunshine.

Good growing weather for fruit, flowers and veg but also for bugs and fungal maladies; the inevitable greenfly and rose blackspot were with us before we had bought the handy (but expensive) plastic spray bottles (I wonder what the cost of the bottle and spray mechanism is compared to the cost of the chemical it contains ?) I prefer soapy water when there are a few days of fine weather.

The RHS lists the following as the top 10 jobs for July :- check for clematis wilt (I loose a quarter of my plants each year but one should give apparently dead plants a chance as the wilt sometimes affects the above ground growth and plants can recover for the next year).,put conservatory plants outside now that it is warm,water tubs and new plants if dry, deadhead bedding plants & repeat- flowering perennials to ensure continuous flowering, pick courgettes before they become marrows, treat apple scab, clear algae, blanket weeds and debris from ponds and keep them topped up, order catalogues for next years spring flowering bulbs, give the lawn a quick acting summer feed, especially if a spring feed was not done, give woodwork a lick of paint or preserver whilst the wood is dry.
Whilst I would go along with most of this It’s sometimes a case of do as I say not do as I do ! Catalogue ordering , lawn feeding and wood painting depend on the weather and what priority one allocates these jobs. I would only apply lawn feed in July if we were in a wet period and then only a ‘booster’. ADAM