SPRING CLEAN YOUR GREEN

Get your garden looking grand for the new season.

WHEN spring arrives late it does tend to turn up in a rush, and so too do all the tasks that you’ve been putting off for weeks.

Torn between weeding, planting and sowing, I decided to do something else instead and set about sprucing up the patio.

This has been bothering me for weeks now and as it occupies most of the view from the kitchen window, sorting it out had to take precedence over everything else.

First, I cleared away all the pots of perennials that were dumped here when we arrived in September, finding a new spot for them next to the greenhouse where they’ll stay until I get round to planting them in the borders.

Next, I brushed up all the leaves that had blown into the corners and finally I got out the hose and scrubbed away mud and moss from under plant pots.

With that taken care of I tackled the snowdrops. Now is the perfect time to increase next year’s show by digging up and splitting existing clumps. I had only one substantial clump to work with, but I was astonished by how far it stretched. And, as well as planting bulbs under the chestnut tree, I squeezed a few into the long border that runs along the front of the house.

This is where I’ve planted peonies and agapanthus and I have more than a dozen small hellebores in the greenhouse which will also end up here once they’ve increased in size.

I’ve already planted a couple of deep purple varieties in this border and one advantage of working with a sloping site is that, from the lawn, these flowers are almost at eye level, which is the best vantage point for hellebores.

Early colour in the front border also comes from the primroses and these will be dug up and divided once flowering is over.

These are native primroses, lemon in colour, and their simplicity adds to their charm.

But I’m not above the fancier kinds too and I have auriculas and candelabra primulas waiting in the wings, ready to plant when the right spot presents itself.

While digging I did encounter an old enemy, the vine weevil grub. I’d hoped that I’d left these behind when I moved, but it seems I’m up against them again.

They have a taste for primroses so as soon as the weather warms up I’ll drench the soil with a solution of nematodes, the microscopic creatures that make short work of these garden thugs.

I’m going to have to treat all the plants in containers as well and I’ll probably sprinkle some of the solution over the compost heap in case any grubs have clung to the roots of weeds that I’ve discarded.

But while finding vine weevil grubs was a blow, there’s little sign yet of either slugs or snails.

Of course they might just be waiting for warmer weather, but I’m hopeful that the local population of thrushes will deal with any that do appear.