Is Your Garden Spring-ready?
Spring is on its way – yes, it is, we promise – and our thoughts turn to gardens. Preparing your garden now will make life easier once spring arrives.
Here are our tips for spring garden prep:
- Order your summer-flowering bulbs and seeds
Lilies, Gladiolus and Ranunculus are summer-flowering bulbs. They can be planted earlier in the spring. Consider some bee- friendly plants, as they will help pollination. Examples include oregano, lavender, Sweet William and common jasmine.
- Clear up your flower beds and borders
Remove dead leaves and debris from your beds and borders. Bamboo poles make neat enclosures for flower beds and borders.
- Plan your fruit and vegetable growing
Is there anything better than home-grown potatoes, steamed and anointed with butter and fresh chives? Decide what you want to grow and where. Rotate where you grow potatoes every year, as they take a lot out of the soil.
- Clean your greenhouse.
Greenhouses get grubby over the winter. Sweep out debris and use a specialist greenhouse detergent on the benches, floor and glass.
- Fix fences and gates.
Now’s the time to get those fences and gates mended. Why not sort your garden furniture out at the same time? Benches and tables should be cleaned and varnished. You might want to re-stain the furniture too.
- Sow seeds that need a longer season
Geraniums, begonias and peppers for example. If you’re pushed for space, why not try a bamboo planter? Planters are also great for herbs, and most herbs are easy to grow.
- Set up a compost area.
Composting is the environmentally-friendly solution to food waste. You need greens and browns for composting – nitrogen rich and carbon rich material, roughly four times as much browns as greens. Greens include fruit and vegetable waste, coffee grounds and old paper.
