Spring awakening
IT’S TIME TO POP ON YOUR WELLIES AND GET PREPPED FOR A BOUNTIFUL GARDEN
NOW is the time to venture outdoors. Hardy and enthusiastic gardeners may have already made a start with clearing up winter debris, hosing down paths and greenhouses, planting seeds and ordering plants.
However, the rest of us are just beginning to pop on the wellies and go outside to observe and plan for the year ahead.
It may be a bit overwhelming if you have totally ignored the outdoors and spent the last few months averting your gaze from windows looking on to the garden.
But don’t fret – with the arrival of colourful bulbs, trees bursting into flower and spring shrubs ablaze, it’s a wonderful time. Putting in a few hours makes all the difference. So here are five tasks to get you started:
Check your gardening tools
Clean, repair and sharpen if necessary – and stock up on fresh gloves, compost bags and twine, if necessary. I prefer long-handled tools as they are easier for digging and more gentle on the back.
Make use of time-saving devices, such as a Dutch hoe, to keep on top of weeds.
A bucket of sand with some oil in it is a great way to keep tools clean. Hose or brush off excess dirt and then plunge blades into the bucket – the abrasive sand cleans off any dirt, and the oil prevents future rusting.
A big tidy-up will work wonders
Power-hosing decks and patios is very satisfying as the dirt appears to disappear magically, but make sure you’re wearing your waterproofs as you’re bound to get a soaking.
With a bucket, bag or barrow at your side, rake up leaves and fallen twigs, dig up big weeds and lightly hoe freshly germinated weeds. Mulch borders once cleaned up to help suppress further weeds.
Slugs love this time of year
It’s still damp and there’s some really tender growth appearing.
To stop them banqueting on your precious hostas, collect them and
put them to work on your compost heap where they will help break down organic material.
Give your pond a spruce up
Ponds can look a bit rank at this time of year so will need a bit of a clear-up. Use a rake or a net to fish out ribbons of algae and duckweed, but try not to disturb frogspawn as frogs are good for hoovering-up insects. Some plants may require cutting back, repotting or even splitting if they are too large. Also, keep an eye out for slugs here as well. And it’s time to start feeding the fish again.
Chop chop
With newly sharpened secateurs, tidy up perennials, grasses and ferns left over from winter. It’s also time to chop off the dead flower heads on hydrangeas.
They have been protecting the new buds from frost damage over the winter, but it’s time for them to go.
With established hydrangeas, remove one-third of the stems while you’re at it, allowing new growth to emerge.
Shrub roses need pruning asap, so cut back all stems to a half or a third of their height, making the snip just above a bud, which will keep the bush more compact and encourage new growth.
Be sure to stop slugs banqueting on your precious hostas