Gardeners' World: Monty Don advises on pruning lavender
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Gardening experts have said gardeners should be careful when it comes to jobs in the garden because even the “smallest mistakes” can have “catastrophic consequences”. This includes pruning, which is an important job gardeners must keep up throughout different times of the year. While this may seem simple, there is a technique gardeners should follow.
Gardening experts at Sutton Manor Nursery explained: “With all the overgrown shrubs from the previous months, it is understandable that you are eager to start getting your shrubs in shape.
“However you mustn’t overdo it. If done too aggressively, it can permanently damage a plant and stunt its growth and make it susceptible to diseases.”
While pruning can benefit lots of different plants and shrubs, it is often important to do so when it is in a dormant state.
Pruning several shrubs or trees during its growing stage can potentially “starve” them.
The experts added: “Pruning is simply cutting leaves and leaves are what a plant needs to make food.
“Therefore, over-pruning your plant means it cannot make food.”
Gardeners should also make sure when they prune, they are doing so at an angle.
This is so that water doesn’t collect and promote disease on the branches or twigs.
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In the warmer months of the year, it is also important to provide shade to plants and pruning them too much can make them extremely vulnerable to the sun.
Pruning can often stimulate new growth and unfortunately, the new growth may be killed off during the winter months.
This is because it can get extremely cold and new shrubs are often not able to cope.
Cutting the lawn too short is also another “mistake” gardeners often make, especially heading into the winter months.
They said: “This can cause a chain reaction of problems for your grass that can be truly catastrophic.
“When you cut your lawn too short, what you are doing is cutting away the food supply to the grass.
“As well as taking away the lawn’s food supply, you also severely reduce its ability to produce more food as the leaf has been cut that helps to make the food.”
This means it then has to work harder to produce the new food.
The gardening experts continued: “Mistakes in gardening happen all the time, especially with new gardeners.
“The main piece of advice that we can give is to learn from the mistakes that you make and make sure that you do not make the same mistake again.
“Knowing what works and what doesn’t is hugely valuable information that can help you grow your skills in the garden.”
Placing plants in the wrong spot and a lack of weeding are also common mistakes gardeners make.
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