Recently my family and I rescued a beautiful dog we named Lily.
I’m pretty sure she’s a Lurcher crossed with a magician, mainly because she has a habit of escaping, but also because she’s magical. We found her at Viking Oaks, a rescue centre in Wrotham. They had found her wandering the streets of Tunbridge Wells, emaciated and mangy. After two months of love, feeding and mange treatment, she was well enough to be re-homed; and we were lucky enough to give her that home. As Lurchers tend to have sensitive stomachs we took the advice of the rescue centre and kept her on dry food (Lily’s Kithcen, 2.5kg, £16.49, and the name is definitely just a coincidence) because it’s grain free.
In the evening we mix in a little bit of raw meat with it (Natures Menu Frozen Dog Food, 95p) and some oil for her skin.
The day before we picked her up, we bought a load of dog things in preparation, like a bed, food, all the toys, lead, harness etc. She promptly chewed through her lead, and then her harness. First lesson, buy a sturdy lead. We ended up getting two new leads, a rope and an extendable one (Flexi 8m cord, £22.99) and she’s loved it ever since. Thankfully, the bed is washable because one of Lily’s new found joys in life is rolling in fox poo.
Lily is pretty food (specifically treats) orientated, so we managedto teach her to sit and lie down on command fairly quickly. She’ll eat any treat going, but she loves the beef and cheese Fusions and chicken necks (Anco, from £1.99), which are great if you can stand the smell. She also likes to chew on shoes, mobile phones, tables, sunglasses and rugs. these items aren’t paricularly good for dogs, not all that nutricious, so we have attemped to replace said items with chews, such as a rawhide bone (FarmFood Impressed Medium, £2,49) and a chewy green bone that has a flavour (Petface Easy Up Bone with Hide Flavour, £4.99). She likes the rawhide, but the toy bone wasn’t paricularly popluar. Unfortunately, toys in general don’t seem all that popular with her, she doesn’t seem to know what to do with them.
We’re getting there though, just the other day she chased a stick and some butterflies.
Do you want a climber that has everything going for it? Beautiful glossy evergreen foliage that turns a glorious ruby red in winter? Vigorous but not rampant growth that will cover a fence but not swamp your garden? Best of all, a glorious and sweetly-scented white flower that will fill the summer evenings with its heady scent? If the answer is yes, then look no further than Star Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides).
(Star Jasmine)
Star Jasmine is one of our most popular climbers but there are still plenty of people out there who have not discovered its charms. Ideal for a sunny location, it will thrive in most soils except shallow chalk. It can also be easily grown in a large pot. An annual feed in the spring with Vitax Q4 slow release fertilizer is all that is needed to keep plants in full vigour. We sell plants on 80cm canes through to 2m tall specimens, and can even supply ready grown arches which are truly spectacular when in full bloom!
For customers who are already familiar with Trachelospermum jasminoides we also offer in limited numbers a variegated form. Another lovely evergreen species we have is Trachelospermum asiaticum which is similar but has a highly fragrant butterscotch yellow star-shaped flower.
Trachleospermum asiaticum
So if you want one climber that does it all, Star Jasmine is indeed a true star!
Those familiar with the story of Brian the Goat will be aware that he was in search of a companion to spend his time with on our Nature Trail at Coolings Green & Pleasant. It is with sadness that we report his time with us has been cut a lot shorter than we all had hoped.
Brian the Goat was suddenly taken ill on Monday with suspected renal failure. He was transferred to the Royal Veterinary College Clinic for treatment, but sadly he died on Wednesday night. An autopsy will hopefully provide more information but in the meantime we are all very shocked and saddened by this most unexpected loss.
The BBQ season is well underway. The whiff of charred sausages is hanging in the summer haze and men across Britain have claimed their place at the BBQ grill to begin their Bear Grylls pretensions! I’ve already indulged in one too many burgers and a glass of Pimms (or two!).
However, it’s not just us that enjoy extra fuel during the summer months – plants need their own summer feast too! Plants are able to make their own food by capturing the energy from sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugar. But in order to stay healthy and give the best results, they take additional nutrients out of the soil or compost, so it’s important to provide them with supplementary fertiliser. The basic nutrients required by plants are nitrogen (N) for leaf and stem growth, phosphorus (P) for root growth and potassium (K) for flowers, fruit and to maintain healthy growth.
Fertilisers are concentrated sources of plant nutrients, usually in compact form such as pellets, granules, powders or liquids. They are used to improve plant growth and yields.
Here are our suggestions:
Good ‘All Rounders’:
Miracle-Gro All Purpose Plant Food
The number one selling plant food that helps plants grow twice as big (versus unfed plants). It has all the basic nutrients required by plants to help grow bigger, lusher plants with noticeably more blooms. It’s a great ‘all rounder’ for bedding, shrubs and roses. Feed every two weeks from March to September for stunning displays. Miracle Gro feed is available in different forms, the quickest to nourish your plants is Miracle-Gro water soluble).
Vitax Q4
Vitax Q4 is another well balanced fertiliser and is best applied after pruning to encourage healthy growth and flowers. It’s a pelleted fertiliser that produces excellent results on fruit, vegetables, roses and shrubs. Similar to Miracle-Gro, it contains all the vital plant foods and trace elements essential for vigorous growth, abundant flowering and ripening of fruit: Apply throughout the growing season.
Ideal for Bedding:
As an alternative to ‘Miracle-Gro All Purpose Plant Food’, we also recommend:
Scotts Osmocote Tablets
A ‘slow release’ fertiliser – particularly good for bedding plants and other greenhouse crops. The tablets are pushed straight into the compost and are ideal for use in tubs, containers and hanging baskets. The controlled release of the nutrients means that they are not removed from the soil when watered. The tablets contain extra trace elements to that container grown plants never run short of vital elements for healthy growth. The controlled release action feeds plants for up to 6 months.
Perfect for Roses:
Roses are heavy feeders and thrive best in rich, fertile soil. They will benefit from specific nutrients to help their growth to enable them to produce flowers. We recommend:
Bayer Garden Toprose
Britain’s best-selling granular rose feed which boasts the perfect balance of nutrients for bright and beautiful roses and shrubs. It also contains long-lasting nitrogen for balanced growth and Iron and Magnesium to guard against premature leaf drop. We would suggest using in Spring after the roses have been trimmed back and then again when they have had their first flush of flowers.
David Austin Rose Food
This organic based rose food is specially formulated to release nutrients over a long period and as with the Toprose it contains essential trace elements to promote strong healthy growth and fine blooms.
All products mentioned are available in our store.
Coolings is full to bursting with wonderful plants and products. Here, our staff pick a few personal favourites.
Sandra – Our Shop Team
Graham Maxwell Bird Table Base with Grill (£75.99). Beautifully handcrafted, well made table. I would not be without my Jacobi Jayne Ring Pull Easy Clean Seed Feeder (£18.99). The superb ring pull design allows the feeder to be effortlessly cleaned to ensure wild birds feeding from it stay healthy.
Nicky – Our Marketing Team
I Love the new Divine Deli Range, the golden grain is just beautiful. The rustic bowls, snack dishes, coasters and serving boards would look great at a summer BBQ alongside the Signature Lemons range of hand painted Spanish ceramics. The colours are so vibrant and perfect for summer dining.
Lesley – Our Education and External Affairs Team
As our resident cat lover I adore the Lily’s Kitchen cat food range. All organic, natural ingredients and holistic recipes – my cat loves them! I’m also impressed with the range of Petface cat scratch posts (from £9.99). Mine certainly keeps my cat alert and healthy.
Sam – Our Herbaceous Expert
Veronica gentianoides, one of my garden favourites. Offering subtle pale blue flowers throughout the summer months and standing around 45-50cm, they are relatively pest free. Apart from looking stunning, they are highly attractive to our pollinating insects…the bees and butterflies will thank you for it. To plant them I’d be lost without my Kent & Stowe transplanting trowel.
Geum Koi has vibrant and lively orange flowers that will brighten up any border or planter. These clump forming, semi-evergreen plants truly do make you smile. Flowering from early spring to summer, you won’t regret adding these to your gardens.
Lyn – Our Climbers Expert
The beautiful Jasmine ‘Clotted Cream’ always gets my vote for its heavenly scented crisp cream flowers. I also have a soft spot for Passion flowers, their exotic looking flowers transport me to a summer oasis.
Annie – Our Bedding Plants Team
Geraniums are always top of my list, beautiful, long flowering and are good in the heat, so I don’t have to worry about watering them excessively. they always look great in my garden when planted alongside white Bacopa.
Here at Coolings we like to think of ourselves as a beacon of educational excellence but much friendlier and relaxed than other establishments.
There are so many reasons why you would want to take a course with us:
• We have inspirational lecturing staff who make learning easy and fun
• We have a purpose-built working area for practicals
• We have our own gardens and production nursery where students are encouraged to take part in practicals, and which enable them to gain an insight into our industry
• Light refreshments are included as part of your course
• We have a glamorous awards evening for those completing a course of a year or more
• All students receive a 15% Coolings Discount card!
And all of this is included in the fee of your course!
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Do you have a sunny area that you wish you could fill with labour saving/ground covering and attractive plants? I think I have the solution for you in the way of alpines. They only require a well-drained soil and the minimum of care once established. I have narrowed down the list to six ‘must have’ plants.
Cerastium (Snow-in-Summer) Lovely grey foliage as a foil to white flowers in June.
Phlox subulata (Creeping phlox) Forms a carpet of flowers from late Spring onwards. Colours range from pink, red, white or blue.
Sempervivum (Houseleek) Available in a fantastic array of leaf colour including stunning varieties that have webbing on the leaves like a spider’s web.
Saxifraga Flowers are mostly either pink or white. Flowers from Spring onwards.
Arabis ferdinandi-coburgii ‘Variegata’ (Wall cress)Very attractive variegated leaves with white flowers from April to June.
July and August are often the warmest months of the year but they can also be the wettest months of the summer (as we are all too aware!) – perfect conditions for plant and weed growth, but also for the spread of plant disease, so be vigilant and respond quickly to any problems. It is also the time that many of us will take our holiday and desert the garden for a few weeks just when it needs us most! Here are a few reminders of what do to in the garden over the summer months and some tips on looking after plants while you are away…
Trees & Shrubs
Trim privet, conifer and other fast-growing hedges regularly to keep them tidy and encourage thick, healthy growth (make sure no birds are still nesting!). When cutting a hedge, taper the sides slightly as you cut, leaving the base a little wider than the top, this will allow more light to reach the lower levels.
Continue to stake and tie all your plants as necessary as wall shrubs and annual climbers grow amazingly fast at this time of year.
Ipomea ‘Morning Glory’
Flowers
By now your garden should be full of colour so take a little time to enjoy it. Deadhead and feed flowering plants and trim straggly specimens from containers.
Plant out biennials such as Sweet Williams (about 9-12” apart) in a sunny spot in the garden.
Sweet Williams
Rejuvenate plants such as pansies and petunias by cutting them right back to the bushier growth at the base, feed and water them to encourage growth. Water and feed containers regularly and prune off straggle shoots. Click here for advice on what and how to feed your plants.
If you are going on holiday and don’t have anyone to look after your plants while you are away, cluster your pots in a sheltered, shady place open to the rain and give them a good soak just before leaving and if possible, stand them in bowls of water. Apply the same rule to hanging baskets – take them down and make a trough in the soil in a cool, shady spot and sit them in it, drenching them before you go. If you are away quite a lot, it may be worth investing in an irrigation system.
Give Wisterias their summer prune (removing long, whippy growths) to prevent excessive growth.
Wisteria sinensis ‘Prolific’
Bearded irises can be divided this month if congested after flowering.
Pests
Warm and wet are the perfect conditions for garden pests. Try to build up diversity in the garden by growing a variety of plants that will attract beneficial insects and other wildlife, to create a healthy balance between pests and predators. Yellowing and distorted leaves, stunted growth and an unsightly black sticky substance on the plant may mean that you have Aphids.
Vegetables
Try to hoe between your vegetable crops during dry weather to keep the weeds down. If you do it when the ground is wet, the weeds may re-root and you will be faced with the same problem again in a few weeks’ time.
Keep vegetables well-watered to prevent bolting. Harvest early potatoes and onions. After harvesting early summer crops like broad beans and shallots, fill the spaces with follow-on crops such as cabbages, or use the space for winter and early spring crops such as sprouting broccoli, spring cabbages and leeks.
Herbs can be picked while in abundant growth and dried for use over winter.
Fruit
Apricots should start to ripen by the end of July, as should peaches and early plums, depending on the variety. The fruits should feel slightly soft to touch before picking. Continue picking soft fruits such as redcurrents, strawberries and raspberries as they will be at their best this month. You can always freeze some if you can’t eat them all at once!
Trained fruit trees will need to be summer pruned to allow light and air to the fruits and to make picking easier. Earlier apple varieties will be ready for picking in August.
Ponds
Top up ponds if necessary in hot weather. Using a spray attachment on your hose will aerate the water and provide welcome oxygen for the fish and any water plants. Remove dead foliage from water lilies and continue to remove blanketweed. Always leave anything you remove from the pond by the side for a few days so that any aquatic creatures can return to the water.
Greenhouse
Damp down the greenhouse regularly to increase humidity and deter red spider mite. Pick Cucumbers regularly as old fruit delays further flowering.
Don’t forget your Houseplants!
Many houseplants benefit from being placed outdoors in good weather. Water them as often as they need and feed regularly.
Seasonal Produce includes:
Beetroot, Black and redcurrants, Broad beans, Carrots, Cherries, Courgettes, French Beans, Garlic, Globe artichokes, Gooseberries, Lettuce, Onions, Radishes, Raspberries, Runner beans, Strawberries, Tomatoes, Apples, Blackberries, Runner Beans.
Our next Farmers Market is on Saturday 23rd July, plenty of seasonal goods can be found on offer!
for all Herbaceous Perennials up to £11.99 retail.
Late summer and early autumn is a magical time in the garden. Whilst earlier flowering perennials are a happy memory, there are a surprising number of herbaceous plants that are at the height of their beauty at this time.
“Top of the tree” has to be Japanese Anemones. Tough and reliable, they will return year after year to give height and colour. There are some lovely varieties about. ‘September Charm’ is a beautiful single pink, which is complemented well with the single white flowers of ‘Honorine Jobert’. Double flowered forms are also available, with ‘Whirlwind’ probably being the favourite among customers. This year during September we aim to have as many varieties as possible for you to choose from.
Schizostylis or Kaffir Lilly is perhaps less well known, but is a real gem. The beautiful flowers appear from the evergreen sword-like leaves throughout autumn. Crimson, White and Pink varieties are all available.
Asters are an old favourite for late season colour. Modern hybrids such as the Island Series are compact, floriferous and healthy. They will clump up quickly to produce a beautiful display year in, year out with little fuss.
Sedums are as loved by bees, as they are by us. If you want to do one thing to provide a late source of nectar in your garden, then plant a sedum. Their fleshy leaves make them very drought tolerant and extremely low maintenance. One hint to make them flower later is to give them the ‘Chelsea Chop’. Simply give the plant a hair-cut in the week of the Chelsea Flower Show and this will make it regrow shorter, bushier and later flowering!
Hardier varieties of Dahlia like deep red ‘Bishop of Llandaff’ look stunning at this time of year. Penstemons and Rudbeckia will still be strutting their stuff and can be planted in combination with grasses which are also looking their best at this time.
As Shakespeare famously said, “Summer’s lease hath all too short a date”. This is especially true with our fantastic autumn herbaceous offer, Buy 3 for £20 in September – October. Offer valid on all Herbaceous Perennials up to £11.99 retail.
So make the most of every moment in your garden and let summer slip into autumn with good cheer!
Spring is an optimistic time of year. In the garden we look forward to the summer ahead, and start planning for colourful displays. Here at Coolings our nursery team is flat-out producing the huge range of home grown bedding plants for which we are so well known. This year we promise to bring you the best new introductions and old favourites to brighten the coming season.
Bella Fuchsias
Eight exciting new colours. These compact fuchsias excel in flower and are one of the longest flowering garden plants. Bella fuchsias begin blooming very early in the season, ideal for tubs and hanging baskets. Enjoy the beautiful Fuchsia flower from Spring until Autumn. Available from mid April.
Bella Fuchsia ‘Vera’ (Available from mid April)
Bella Fuchsia ‘Evita’ (Available from mid April)
Bella Fuchsia ‘Susanna’ (Available from mid April)
Colour Breakthrough!! Yellow!
Cosmos Lemon Sherbert
These cosmos are set to be this season’s must-have plants. The classy soft lemon yellow flowers are produced on uniform, well branched plants. They will be stunning as patio-container or border plants.
Cosmos Xanthos Lemon Sherbert
NEW – Double Can Can mini-trailing petunias
We are excited to add to our range these unique and highly colourful trailing plants, with their ‘mini-rose’ double flowers. Available in light pink, lemon, magenta, red and pink vein.
Fancy Petunias
This year we have some lovely novelty varieties of this popular bedding plant to tempt you, including:
Petunia Night Sky Extraordinary new flower pattern! Multi-award wining semi-trailing variety.
Petunia Phantom An unusual striped variety with black flowers and a distinctive yellow star patter.
Plus over 300 other bedding plant varieties to colour your summer!!
Ipomea ‘Morning Glory’
Sweet Williams
Wisteria sinensis ‘Prolific’
