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It does depend a bit on the variety. If her bushes are Forsythia suspensa, with wafty-traily shoots hanging down all over the shop, she is never going to achieve a neat, clipped, thickly flowering look. Sandra is far more likely to achieve what she wants eventually if she has Forsythia x intermedia 'Lynwood Variety' or one of the stockier, more densely flowering varieties. She should tackle the bushes immediately after the flowers have faded, pruning them radically (a pruning saw will be necessary to get between the thick, crowded stems). The next bit is difficult to assess and describe, because it depends on how radical Sandra will have to be, and on the growth habit of the variety. However, in general terms, the regeneration of the bushes over the next few months will undoubtedly be swift and prolific. To stop everything racing away from her again, Sandra should shorten the stems by about half at least once at the peak of the growing season, stopping around August to let the wood ripen so that the shrub will produce flowers the next spring. Another "readerene" with a control problem is These will be high-maintenance plants, since photinia grows extremely fast and loose. Rachel should trim these bushes every few weeks in the growing season (until late September), which will induce more red shoots each time. To maintain some of the attractive redness throughout the summer, it would be better if she pruned out every other shoot each time. Because the leaves are large, she should always use secateurs on every individual shoot, since shears would create unsightly half-leaves all over the bush. Needless to say, these bushes will never flower if pruned this extensively. In your email you say you have been battling (with some success) with a moss problem on your lawn. You refer to the fact that you have clay soil and that the mossy borders are shady in winter. I have to say, therefore, that your mulch - while obliterating patches of moss in the short term - won't solve much in the long term. Moss spores are borne in the air, so if the conditions in your garden (damp shade, specifically) suit it, you are, for want of a better expression, snookered. Having struggled for years with rampant moss in various gardens, I have come to the conclusion that the only way to deal with it in borders is to cultivate the soil regularly and very lightly with the tip of a long-handled fork, so that it never gets a real grip. This can be a bit of a bind at this time of the year if, like me, you look forward to plants self-seeding naturally here and there. In shady, moss-prone areas one can easily dislodge whole colonies of minuscule seedling foxgloves, for example, so I have learnt to be relatively moss-tolerant. However, by the sound of things you are a diligent gardener and a demon mulcher, and maybe strategic self-seeding just doesn't happen chez vous. You could try to lessen the extent of winter shade by raising or thinning the canopies of nearby trees, if this is appropriate. You could also improve the drainage of your clay soil by digging sharp sand or grit into it at every opportunity. And don't add mossy lawn clippings to your compost heap. By spreading the compost around your borders, you will be making the problem worse, since moss doesn't rot down. This is a pr cis of a much more complicated query, so I hope I have included all the necessary elements. As readers will have gathered, I am no soil scientist, but my gardening instincts tell me there is no need to lose sleep over the reduction in nitrogen levels in the soil around your soft fruit caused by the slow breakdown of the woodchippings. I would draw back the chippings with a rake and give each bush a fistful or two of a general fertiliser (one that contains equal quantities of nitrogen, potash and phosphates) once or twice a year, in March and July, perhaps. As long as the leaves on your bushes are a good, healthy green and they continue to crop well, all will be well. There are currently no comments for this entry. Please remember that the submission of any material to telegraph.co.uk is governed by our Your name: Your email address: Your site's URL: Please click the post button only once - your comment will not be published immediately.

# posted by henry62119 @ 10:02 AM 0 comments