Whitegates Nursery Seasons
At West Rounton, for all Your Gardening Needs
Spring
As we leave the icy depths of winter behind things are slowly
beginning to warm up and start growing. Now it is time to start
getting busy in the garden. The first job to be getting on with
is a general garden tidy up. Early spring is your last chance to
prune your roses and remove any dead growth from the top of your
perennials.
You can get your garden soil ready for growth by forking it over
and improve its quality by adding compost or manure- try some of
our great Humax products! Now is the best time for adding plants
to your borders and flower beds. We have perennials available in
a 12cm pot. We have lots of varieties including lupins,
foxgloves, hollyhocks, aubretia, saxifrage all which will add
colour and fill space in your borders. Over 50,000 perennials
are produced on the Nursery in spring. We are able to offer
fantastic value and provide plants with growing conditions best
suited to your garden. We also have a huge quantity of shrubs on
offer in a dedicated covered area all at brilliant prices.
Now is the time to add fertiliser around the base of your roses,
shrubs and hedging to give them a welcome boost. Once you have
planted up your borders spread a layer of compost or bark around
your plants. This will help to retain moisture and stop weeds
from germinating- meaning less work for you!
You can make a start sowing seeds. Early sowings of vegetables
and salads can now take place in the greenhouse and as spring
progresses sowings can be made outside. We are now stocking a
greater range of seeds and propagation equipment than ever
before. We will also have available seed potatoes and onion
sets. Later in the season we will have a large range of
vegetables and salads in cells for planting out. This year we
are adding more varieties of both.
Spring is a good time to add instant colour to your garden, we
have lots of great options for adding colour to your pots and
hanging baskets. Use pansies, primroses, pots of bulbs,
heathers, bellis daisy etc for maximum impact. We grow over
250,000 of such plants, so we can offer our customers great
spring value.
Many keen gardeners now like to buy their own bedding plugs and
hanging basket starter plants. This year we will be offering
both. All our plants are grown in larger units and cells than
you would find elsewhere- but are the same price or cheaper!
This enables our customers to grow a better product and gives
better results with fewer losses. We do not offer these plants
for sale until March, wait for the weather to warm up and save
on your heating costs.
In 2007 we added a large tree area with hundreds of fruit and
ornamental trees for sale. We have also significantly expanded
our selection of roses, fruit bushes and bare root hedging
plants.
Finally don’t forget to look after your lawn in spring. This
will get it looking great throughout the year. Apply a feed and
weed and patch up any bare areas with an appropriate grass seed.
Mothers
Day & Easter gifts.
Visit us to see our large range of gift ideas. We have planted
baskets, pots and arrangements. One of our houseplants would
provide the perfect gift for Mum, or how about a plant for the
garden.
Flowers.
We can provide you with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Flowers
available include Lilies, Chrysanthemums, Carnations etc. This
service is available all year round. Please try to order your
bouquets in advance, you can book by telephone on 01609 882355.
Funeral wreaths and flowers can also be provided please call for
details.
Summer
By
the end of May / early June we hope the risk of frost has passed
and it is finally time to plant out summer bedding plants. We
have hundreds of thousands of bedding plants available from
March (as starter plants) through to July/August. We have a
fantastic amount of varieties and colour themes. We also stock
thousands of geraniums, fuchsias, pelargoniums, osteospernums
etc. If it is hanging basket plants you are looking for we have
over 50,000 of these too! Surfinias (trailing petunias)
and
many other top quality hanging basket plants - including bacopa,
verbenas, helichrysum, trailing begonias etc. You can also bring
your pots and hanging baskets to us and we will plant them up
for you.
When filling your own pots always try and use fresh compost
where possible, this will give your plants the best possible
start. Old compost can carry disease and will be lacking
nutrients.
Once you have planted up your pots and hanging baskets you will
need to water them regularly (daily for hanging baskets), apply
a general feed (about every 1-2 weeks) and keep dead heading.
Also keep an eye out for slugs and other pests, if they are
dealt with quickly they will not damage your plants. During dry
spells it will also be necessary to water newly planted shrubs
and perennials to give them the best possible start in life.
As all plants continue to grow throughout the season ensure that
the taller growing plants and climbers are well supported using
canes, trellis and plant supports.
In the vegetable garden keep a check on weeds, water when needed
for maximum yields and make sure pests aren’t eating your crops
before you are.
Autumn
From September onwards it is time to plant up spring flowering
bulbs. We offer a large range of quality bulbs at the best
possible price. We generally have these in stock from September
through to the end of November.
Autumn is also a great time for planting shrubs and perennials.
The soil is still warm and plants planted now will become
established before winter sets in. The best plants for autumn
colour include many acers, pyracantha and cotoneaster. It is
also the best time to split perennials, move plants from
overcrowded areas or transfer plants to a better position.
September and October are the best months for applying an autumn
lawn feed. It will improve root growth , green up your lawn and
will prepare your lawn ready for winter. Bare patches can also
be reseeded but don’t leave it too late.
Before the first frosts arrive bring in your tender plants which
you want to save for next year. Such plants include canna
lilies, dahlias & geraniums. When your bedding plants start
looking tired its time to replace them with a new colourful
autumn/winter display, many more plants are now available at
this time of year. On the Nursery we produce around 300,000
winter pansies, wallflowers, kale, heathers, cyclamen, primroses
etc.
We grow over 20,000 cyclamen, our indoor range of large cyclamen
which are very popular with our customers.
It is also time to tidy up your perennials, most can be cut
right back to smarten up your flower beds. Ideally a mulch
should then be spread over the crowns of the plants to give them
a feed and protect them from the cold weather ahead.
Christmas
Christmas at Whitegates starts from 1st of December. On the run
up to Christmas you will find a huge selection of Christmas gift
ideas including plants, arrangements, baskets and bowls. We have
a great range of hyacinths, poinsettias, azaleas, Christmas
cacti etc.
We also stock hundreds of quality Christmas trees. We have a
great variety of cut trees including our best selling low drop
Nordman Firs. We also have potted trees of all sizes. From 2
feet to 20 feet, we can supply you with a quality tree! Our
prices are as usual as low as we can go – whilst delivering the
great quality which our customers expect. We stock a varied
selection of Christmas lights to add the finishing touches.
Holly wreaths are another speciality for us, all homemade. We
supply many different types and sizes with over 1500 produced on
the Nursery.
Winter
This is the one season of the year when there is little to do in
the garden, but not for us! The Nursery is open all year round –
just closing between Christmas and the New Year. We have a full
selection of plants, gifts, flowers and sundries available right
throughout the winter. One of our best sellers at this time of
year is our great range of bird care products including feeds,
feeders and nesting boxes.