CLEAR WEEDS FROM BEDS, FEED, AND MULCH

As your garden begins to wake up, it’s a good idea to get on top of those weeds before they have a chance to repopulate your garden. Many have numerous life cycles through one growing season, which means there is going to be an awful lot of potential seed floating around your garden.

1

Physically remove the weeds, either by forking them out or hoeing them from the surface of the soil. Rake them up and pop them into your compost heap. Most annual weeds will compost quickly, but they require that mixture of green and woody material, and turning, to increase the oxygen levels within the compost and aid decomposition; cold and wet compost heaps will not destroy those seeds as effectively.

2

There are a few vegetables that come to mind, such as asparagus and rhubarb, that we demand a lot from, so extra feeding at this point is beneficial. At West Dean I have a number of rhubarb and asparagus beds, and at this time of year I will give those plants a boost of fertiliser with fish blood and bone, Growmore, or sulphate of ammonia, by way of a tonic, which I then repeat when I have finished harvesting, to help them recuperate.

3

Feeding is not and should not be restricted to our edible plants; shrubs, perennials and roses will all benefit from a little top-up, particularly given the wet winter we have had, which generally leeches a lot of that nutrition away. Generally, I would say that a handful applied per square metre around the feeding roots of these plants is the way to go.

4

Once you have applied your fertiliser to your weed-free, moist soil, there is no better way to lock that moisture in and increase the biological activity than by adding an organic mulch. Well-rotted garden compost or manure will feed the soil and the organisms within it and provide a much healthier environment for your plant roots. Apply a 4in layer of mulch to suppress weed growth and lock in the winter moisture.

5

Avoid building up mulch around woody stems, as the decomposition that takes place within the mulch may cause the bark of your stems to become soft, rot and allow disease into the plant. Keep that air circulating around the base of your tree or shrub so that it stays healthy.

i Rhubarb needs plenty of nourishment in the spring