Your hard
work in the autumn and winter months, digging and preparing borders, working in
compost and tidying up is coming into its own.
work in the autumn and winter months, digging and preparing borders, working in
compost and tidying up is coming into its own.
Frosts will have had a
beneficial effect on the soil, breaking it down to a good tilth – that’s
ideally a loamy, nutrient rich soil, a mix of sand, clay and organic matter
will give you a friable soil that is not prone to compacting.
beneficial effect on the soil, breaking it down to a good tilth – that’s
ideally a loamy, nutrient rich soil, a mix of sand, clay and organic matter
will give you a friable soil that is not prone to compacting.
Finish preparing
borders, ready for planting biennials and perennials in April, by forking them
over.
borders, ready for planting biennials and perennials in April, by forking them
over.
Time to give the lawn some attention by feeding it and seeding bare
patches. If the weather is dry and reasonably mild you can sow some hardy
annuals such as Sweet Peas and Clarkia. Sweet Pea seedlings started in
the autumn or in January under glass should be ready to plant out about now.
patches. If the weather is dry and reasonably mild you can sow some hardy
annuals such as Sweet Peas and Clarkia. Sweet Pea seedlings started in
the autumn or in January under glass should be ready to plant out about now.
Stop and consider how the garden looked through the winter months and where you
could create winter interest with plants bearing berries and colourful bark.
Large clumps of hostas can be divided before their leaves grow.
could create winter interest with plants bearing berries and colourful bark.
Large clumps of hostas can be divided before their leaves grow.
- Take spring cuttings of tender bedding
plants such as pelargoniums, marguerites and petunias - Grow perennials from seed, lupins, pinks,
delphiniums - Plant and move snowdrops, winter aconites
and hardy cyclamen - Split polyanthus after flowering to make
several plants - Plant layered carnations, chrysanthemums,
dahlias, pansies and violas - Propagate rock plants by division
- Under
glass pot on azaleas,
camellias and marguerites - Sow under glass a list as long as you
like from antirrhinums to delphiniums, dianthus to hollyhocks and penstemons to
verbenas and everything in between - See on the seed packets on display in the
garden centre when to sow