Gardening Spring clean

Our resident garden whisperer CHARLIE ALBONE reveals how to revive your backyard for spring

Spring is a fantastic time in the garden as all the plants wake up from their cold winter slumber. It’s a time when things can easily get away from you so I suggest starting your spring gardening campaign with a blast and follow my getinto-spring maintenance regimen.

Remove weeds

Start by pulling out all the weeds that grew over winter. It’s amazing how all your ornamentals slow right down over winter, however there’s no stopping weed growth!

The most effective way to kill weeds, roots and all, is to get under them with a fork and pull or lift them out of the soil.

For larger areas, you can use a natural spray by combining salt and vinegar and spritz on to kill the foliage of the weed.

Prune back plants

After weeding, you need to do a basic prune and cut back if you haven’t already done it in late autumn. This includes removing dead wood, crossing branches and overgrown shrubs. Most shrubs can be cut down by a third and they’ll bounce back with renewed vigour and dense growth.

Fertilise the soil

Enrich your soil – no matter the type – with compost and slowrelease fertiliser – this will help retain moisture and nutrients in n the soil and give the plants some long-lasting food throughout the season. For new beds, dig it through the soil, and for existing full garden beds, apply it to the top of the bed like a mulch.

Add new plants

Now for the fun part where you see fast results – plants! Fill in all the gaps and empty spots, remembering to allow the plants room to grow. There’s nothing worse than overplanting and having to rip things out.

Getting some seeds going for a late spring plant out in the vegie patch is also a good idea and you can get an early jump on things like tomatoes and soft salad leaves if you germinate them inside on a warm window sill.

Give your garden a drink

After all the hard work of f weeding, digging and planting, giving iving the garden a good soak is a great way to start the season off on the right foot and help lp settle the new plants in. .

I apply a soil wetter – winter can be deceptively dry and the soil can become hydrophobic (where water finds it hard to penetrate the soil). It’s also good practice and liquid feeds often have added tonics to them, too. oo.

Add mulch

After a good soaking, apply a layer of organic mulch, such as pea straw or sugar cane. This helps water get into the soil more slowly so it’s more useful, it prevents evaporation and soil erosion and it looks good. It also helps keep weeds down and breaks down to help feed and add organic matter to soil over time.

I apply mulch to a depth of 75mm – any more and water finds it hard to get in. Any less, you’ll suffer too much evaporation and the weeds will push through.

Indoor love

Pull your indoor plants outside and soak them. I submerge the pot in a big bucket of water with half-strength liquid fertiliser. This gives the plant a great soak it won’t get inside and a dose of food, too.