Spring Gardening

With spring just days away we’ve started thinking about ways to get our homes ready for the season ahead. March and April are two of the best months for seed-sowing, growing, and nurturing your garden as it comes to life!

Getting your garden in order early will enable you to spend summer relaxing and enjoying your outdoor space in all its glory. As spring is a busy time of year in the gardening calendar we have taken the opportunity in this blog to give you some tips on how to get your garden ready for summer!

Clear up flower beds and borders

Have a general tidy up and remove leaves and other debris from your flower borders and grass. You can cut back the old dead growth of bushes and plants, although if you’d like to be wildlife friendly then it’s best to leave a small wild area within your garden.

Once you have cleared the garden beds and borders spread a layer of compost over the soil. Following this feed your flower beds with a fertiliser - ask staff at your local garden centre for suggestions on which one will be the best for your garden.

Clear your grass of any foliage then cut the grass, following this rake and provide a treatment if needed. This can help your grass to grow thicker and stronger.

Clean your greenhouse or shed

If you have a greenhouse or shed, this is the perfect time to give it a clean and tidy as getting organised will make gardening much easier. You could also use this time to wash pots and seed trays to help prevent diseases infecting your young plants.

Clean gardening tools

Give your garden tools a clean and sharpen, if needed. Caring for your garden tools not only helps preserve them, it saves you money in the long run and helps prevent the spread of disease. Crafty has a great article, Organize Your Garden Tools: Potting Shed Inspiration which we’re sure will be helpful.

Order summer-flowering bulbs and seeds

This is the perfect task for a wet and windy day! Summer-flowering bulbs such as Lilies, Gladiolus and Ranunculus can be planted in early spring for a colourful summer display. You could also sow seeds of cool-season flowers like sweet peas, poppies, calendula, pansies, violas and snapdragons; this will provide colourful displays throughout the year. For advice and tips on planting bulbs read the Royal Horticultural Society’s article Bulb: Planting.

If you want to grow your own vegetables you might want to try a few seasonal suggestions, such as lettuce, parsley, spinach, peas and cabbages.

Install water butts

Installing water butts in your garden to collect seasonal rainfall has serval benefits, including for the environment and your plants. When installing a water butt make sure it’s situated below a downpipe to make the most of the rainfall.

Treat the wood in your garden

Treat your wooden garden furniture, decking and fences with a wood preservative; this will help your garden and everything in it to look its best during the summer months. If you have a patio use this time to thoroughly clean it - a pressure washer is a handy tool here.

If you want gardening to be something the whole family can be involved in read the Gardening with Children blog, for lots of tips and ideas.

We hope our advice will help to get you inspired and outside this spring as well as to get the growing season off to a great start. What tips do you have for spring gardening?

Image by Mike Mozart and licenced by Creative Commons.