How to keep your plants going through the summer - another gardening trick
The Chelsea Chop
Gardening Minds, you are totally brilliant. For the last couple of weeks I have been head down, building a garden which is about to go on display for the whole world to see. (No anxiety there, then.) And you’re all wonderfully messaging, commenting, sharing posts on Notes and chatting away in the Chat. Total stars - THANK YOU.
It’s currently 2am and I’m sitting bolt upright in bed, wide awake, obsessing over a key border whose planting I need to get absolutely right today, so I thought I’d write to you all instead - way more calming! I’m so sorry if I don’t reply to your comments this week - you know why…..
There’ll be a post coming on Saturday; in the meantime, it’s that time of year when we can start thinking about making our garden displays last for much longer using the magic Chelsea Chop method. Now is the perfect time to do the ‘Chelsea Chop’ - this helps stop perennial plants getting leggy and therefore FLOPPY - we don’t want floppy. Also, critically, if you do this, it prolongs your flowering display.
The technique gets its name from the flower show, which is where I am right now - held towards the end of every May, which is the perfect time to do the Chelsea Chop.