Cracking Easter tricks to kickstart your garden...
THE Easter weekend is the traditional start of the gardening year, when improving weather and longer days mean we have plenty of time to get our gardens in shape for summer. Here’s my guide to eight jobs that will give your plot an instant lift and prepare it for the months ahead.
TEND TO LAWNS
SET your garden off to perfection by giving the lawn some attention. Start by removing ‘thatch’, a layer of grass clippings, weeds and moss that hinders drainage and allows lawn diseases to prosper. Once removed, improve drainage in compacted areas by spiking the surface with a garden fork.
Stimulate lush, green growth by spreading high nitrogen, granular fertiliser across the surface – combined weed, feed and moss killers are available for those with problem lawns. Make sure you scatter the feed evenly to avoid patchy results and to prevent grass scorching due to a concentration of granules.
PLANT BASKETS
FILL hanging baskets with vibrant bedding plants for eye-catching, vertical summer displays. Tender petunias, pelargoniums, fuchsias, lobelia and other summer stalwarts aren’t suitable for life outdoors until late spring, but planting baskets now, and keeping them undercover, will ensure plants are well established.
Mix some slow-release fertiliser and water-retaining crystals into compost, before adding to the basket. Plant trailers around the outside. Continue to build up the basket in layers, leaving a 2in gap between the container and the surface of the compost. Pop a taller plant in the centre surrounded by more compact species.
SPRUCE UP FURNITURE
PREPARE plastic, aluminium and rattan garden furniture for entertaining by scrubbing with soapy water – use a toothbrush to get into any nooks and crannies. If the paint, varnish or similar preservative on wooden furniture is looking worn, rub gently with sandpaper and reapply. Look out for rust or patches of bubbling paint on iron furniture. If present, rub down the offending patch with wire wool and repaint.
PREPARE PONDS
PREVENT a sparkling pool turning into a muddy sump by cleaning ornamental ponds every five years. Start by removing plants and then bail out water with a bucket. Once it’s empty, scrape sludge off the bottom. Scrub with a stiff brush. Remove as much waste as you can before refilling with clean water.
Introduce some new plants to enhance ponds. A great way of creating an eye-catching display is to plant several in mesh-sided, aquatic baskets. Line with hessian, fill with aquatic compost and arrange specimens. Cover with grit to prevent compost being stirred up by moving water.
INSTANT IMPACT
SUMMER may still feel a long way away, so inject instant colour into gardens by snapping up pots of seasonal bedding plants, such as primroses, polyanthus, violas, pansies and daisies. Most garden centres will have a good range, along with readyto-flower bulbs, such as tulips and hyacinths. Use them to brighten up pots, window boxes and hanging baskets, or to plug gaps at the front of beds and borders. Remove fading blooms regularly to prevent plants setting seed – this will ensure plants continue to produce flowers well into spring and avoid displays coming to an untimely end.
BLITZ BORDERS
DON’T panic if your beds and borders look a little run-down. Straighten them out by chopping back any old seed heads, removing weeds and editing self-sown seedlings.
Once you can see what you’re doing, lift and divide congested clumps of perennials, replanting in soil improved with garden compost. Put plant supports in place to stop stems flopping as they grow. Finish by covering the ground with a 3in-deep mulch of leafmould, composted bark or some other similar material.
MAKE SURFACES SPARKLE
GRIME, moss and algae can build up on hard surfaces over winter, making them unsightly and slippery to walk on. Scrubbing a large area by hand is back-breaking work, so save time and effort by blasting the dirt away from patios, decks and paths with a pressure washer. Set the machine on high when cleaning patios, working methodically across the surface. Use a low setting when tackling decking – once the wood is completely dry, give it one or two coats of wood preservative, paint or oil. Avoid aiming the powerful jet of water at plants.
TIDY SHEDS
OVER time, sheds become repositories for everything from pots to barbecues, often chucked in haphazardly, making it hard to find what you need. Restore order by decanting the contents and sweeping the interior. Improve its storage potential by screwing in hooks for hanging tools and adding shelves. Before moving stuff back inside, take time to declutter, getting rid of anything you don’t use.