With spring now officially upon us and the weather beginning to warm up, now is the ideal opportunity to get out in the garden and mow the lawn. By cutting the grass now you’ll benefit from greener and more hard-wearing lawn during the summer.
If you aren’t sure what garden tasks you should be focusing your attention on during early spring, then this guide will help you make the most of your garden and help it to thrive well into the summer months.
Flowering
Now is the perfect time to start encouraging your garden plants and flowers to grow. Sprinkle granular fertiliser around the base of roses, hedges and shrubs and transplant any conifers to a new location in the garden. You can encourage your tall-growing perennials to grow by covering them with a grow-through plant support.
Now is also a good time to start planning ahead, so begin planting some hardy annuals such as corncockle and nasturtium.
Fruit & Veg
If you are looking to grow your own fruit and veg in your spring garden, then now is a great time to start sowing your crop. Peas can now be sown but keep them under cover. You can also start planting your onions set in rows, remember to leave around 15cm between them.
As all plants will be competing for sunlight and nutrients, cut away any grass or unwanted plants that surround your fruit trees.
Work around the Garden
Spring is all about preparing your garden for the rest of the season, and there are plenty of little tasks you can perform to ensure that your garden thrives. Placing slug repellent around the shoots of new plants will deter slugs from munching on them.
If you have any bulbs that have been grown indoors and have now finished flowering, then now is the perfect time to move them out into the garden.
If you have a garden pond then you will want to cut back any marginal plants that surround the pond.
In the Greenhouse
Greenhouse owners should take this opportunity to purchase some young bedding plants from the local garden centre. Make sure that the bedding plants that you buy are able to be grown under glass. Clean the leaves of your evergreen houseplants using a damp cloth.
Deadhead hippeastrum flowers, but leave the stalk as this should be allowed to die down naturally.
As I said, spring is about preparing your garden for the season ahead, and good preparation will see you garden bloom well into late summer. If the frosty nights are still present in your area then you may wish to postpone these steps for a couple of weeks or until the weather warms slightly.