Action Plan · next 3 weeks
26 May – 15 Jun
A short, prioritised to-do list tuned to what's actually growing here and to the season — late spring into early summer, when the roses are flushing, the spring shrubs are finishing flowering, and everything is growing fast. Your new Epsom salts feature in week 1.
About your Epsom salts (magnesium sulphate): it's a quick source of magnesium, useful where leaves yellow between the veins while the veins stay green (classic magnesium shortage, often on roses, and common after heavy high-potash feeding). Dissolve roughly 1 tbsp per 4–5 litres (a watering can) and either water it around the roots or spray it on the foliage on a dull day. It is not a general fertiliser and won't replace feeding — and, importantly, it will not fix lime-induced (iron) chlorosis on acid-loving plants, which needs ericaceous feed / sequestered iron instead. Don't overdo it: 2–3 times a season is plenty.
Week 126 May – 1 Jun
🌱Feed all the roses. Give every rose a high-potash rose feed plus a mulch of compost — they're coming into their main flush and feeding now fuels weeks of bloom. Roses #9, #10, #13, #18, #20, #25, #28, #32, #34.
💧First Epsom-salts round. Same watering session: dissolve ~1 tbsp per can and water it in around the roses, and over any plant showing between-the-vein yellowing. Roses respond best. Roses, plus any yellowing leaves elsewhere.
✂️Deadhead as you go. Snip faded rose blooms back to the first strong leaf to keep repeat-flowering types going; remove spent peony flowers too. Roses; Peony #31.
🚿Support & water the peony. Slip a ring/grid support under the heavy peony stems before more open, and keep new plantings watered. Peony #31; climbing rose #32; palm seedlings #22/#35.
Week 22 – 8 Jun
✂️Prune the spring shrubs that have just finished flowering — only lightly, and only now (they flower on last year's wood). Ceanothus: trim the shoots that flowered, but never cut into old bare wood. Lilac: cut off spent flower trusses. Weigela: if flowering's done, shorten flowered stems and take out a couple of the oldest. Ceanothus #12; Lilac #5; Weigela #17.
🔍Confirm the spotted laurel (Aucuba), and keep it looking its best. The speckled-leaved shrub looks like Aucuba, not the Pieris first guessed — so it needs no special acid feeding. Check for red berries / lightly toothed leaf-tips to confirm, and snip out any all-green shoots to keep the gold variegation strong. Spotted laurel #27.
🌴Thin the palm seedlings while small. Decide which one or two windmill-palm babies to keep, pot up or move them, and remove the rest; cut the flower stalks off the parent palm to stop more seeding. Palm seedlings #22/#35; parent palm #36.
🌿Cut back the green alkanet before it seeds. Lovely for bees but a prolific self-seeder — shear it back now to keep it from spreading. Green Alkanet #33.
Week 39 – 15 Jun
🚿Water the thirsty ones & mulch. The hydrangea wilts fast as it warms up — water deeply and mulch to lock in moisture (don't prune it now, it flowers on last year's wood). Keep wall-base plants watered too, as they dry out quickest. Hydrangea #21; climbing rose #32; Ceanothus #12.
✂️Train the climbing rose. Tie its long canes onto wires as near horizontal as you can — this is the single biggest thing for getting flowers all along the stems. Climbing rose #32.
🔍Pest & disease patrol. Check roses for blackspot and aphids, clear any fallen diseased leaves, and squash aphids or blast them off. A dry, settled spell is the moment to act. All roses; Ceanothus.
💧Optional second Epsom-salts round. Only if leaves are still yellowing between the veins — repeat the week-1 dose. Otherwise skip it; more isn't better. Any rose/plant still showing magnesium shortage.
General seasonal guidance for a London garden, tuned to these plants — adjust to the weather (skip watering after heavy rain, hold off feeding in a heatwave). I'm not a professional horticulturist, and a few plants here are still tentatively identified, so treat their tasks as provisional until confirmed.