Blanching:
A vegetable-growing technique which has used for hundreds of years. Light is excluded from some or all of the growing parts of certain types of vegetable, as a result the natural green colour does not develop. There are several other possible effects - lower fibre content, improved flavour, reduced bitterness and enhanced appearance. The role of blanching is to produce a number of of these responses. The stems of Celery and Leak are covered with earth but the heads of Chicory and Seakale are blanched by covering it with a light-proof pot.
Cutting:
Cutting blooms and attractive foliage from flower and shrub borders for arranging indoors is, of course, a basic part of your gardening scene. In this way the fruits of your labours can be enjoyed at any time and in any weather, but there is pitfalls to keep away from. Obviously, the full beauty of your flower bed or border is diminished, in the case of newly-planted perennials the lack of stems and green leaves can harm next years growth. For those who have the space and are keen flower arrangers it is a good idea to have a separate bed where plants for cutting will be grown.
In a shrub border this form of spring and summer pruning normally does no harm, but take care during pruning the 1st year. A newly-planted shrub needs all the stems and green leaves it can muster, so only cut a couple of flowers and do not remove many leaves. Roses are perhaps the most generally used of all cut flowers - do not remove in excess of one-third of the flowering stem and always cut just above an outward facing bud.
Dead- Heading:
The removal of dead flowers has several advantages, it helps to keep the bed or border tidy, it prolongs the flowering season by preventing seed formation as well as in a few cases it induces a second flush later on in the season.
Use garden shears, sharp knife or finger tips. Be careful not to remove too much stem. You must not dead-head flowers grown for there seed pods. It is quite impractical to remove the dead blooms from some annuals and perennials and from most trees and shrubs. There is a few large flowering woody plants, however, which must be dead-headed. The faded trusses of Hybrid Tea and Floribunda Roses need to be cut off and the dead flowers of Rhododendrums should be cautiously broken off with finger and thumb. Cut off flower-heads of Lilac once the blooms have faded, but the large heads of Hydrangeas are an exception - remove these in March.
Author Resource:
I have been involved with the Do-It-Yourself and Gardening industry for over 30 years. So I think now is the time to spread the word a bit about Rated People within companies operating in the UK.
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