| |
|
|
Vale Life resident garden expert Bob Priddle advises on all things horticultural
VALE GARDENS
I've always loved spring. Sitting on a hot beach in summer is my idea of purgatory. Even now, on a cold spring day you can see the buds of trees and shrubs beginning to swell, ready to start growing again. Lambs are taking their first breaths and birds are busy preparing for the arrival of their young.
It's all about optimism and that's something all good gardeners need in abundance. It's been a tough winter and some shrubs are showing signs of not being as hardy as I'd previously thought. There will be a lot of work to do repairing and replanting. So here are ten tips to get you through the next few months.
■ Grow something different. Gardeners are conservative creatures. Not perhaps in the political sense but in what they grow. Many grow the same species year after year, and by doing so, miss out on so much. Investigate companies like Chiltern Seeds, which while not having hundreds of glossy pictures, have some great varieties that are not commonly found in garden centres.
■ September is rightly regarded as being the best time to plant spring flowering bulbs. But many garden centres now sell them in pots. Take home some pots of daffs and plunge plant them, pot and all, into the gaps in your borders. There's nothing quite like spring flowering bulbs to brighten up overcast days.
■ Sow some sweet peas. They're not difficult to grow from seed and make excellent cut flowers and if you choose the right variety, they can have a fabulous scent to go with it. Grow them in and among your runner beans to help improve pollination or in a border to give it height. They don't grow well in pots, but you can do it if you pick a really big pot and keep the roots cool.
■ Give your lawn a good rake before you start mowing. It's been a tough winter for lots of plants, grass included. Lawns will have a layer of dead grass, twigs and other debris on the surface. This layer of thatch can become an ideal starting point for moss or broad leaved weeds.
■ When you're sowing seeds, always check how many seeds are in the packet. There really is no need to sow the entire packet in one or even two goes. Some seed packets will contain up to 250 seeds and unless you've got a huge garden you'll be struggling to thin out the seedlings and be throwing many of them away. Sow half or even a third of the packet and save the seeds in a cool, dry, dark tin until next year or swop them with someone else and broaden your range.
■ Start some first early potatoes. The traditional day for planting spuds was Good Friday but it's as well to remember that Easter is a moveable feast and this year it's early. It doesn't matter if you've got a garden or not, you can always turn a large compost bag inside out, so the black covering is on the outside. Snip off the two bottom corners with scissors to improve drainage and you've got an ideal potato bag. Four tubers in a large bag produce great tasting spuds.
■ Replan and replant your perennials. If they've been in for a few years, perennial plants will benefit from being lifted, divided and replanted. If they've grown too big, discard the older pieces, or better still, swap them with someone for some you haven't got. Mix in some good garden compost or other organic matter and replant. You'll be surprised how they benefit from being divided.
■ There are many subjects that benefit from spring pruning. So take your courage in one hand and your secateurs in the other and go to it. It's one of those tasks that a lot of people are frightened of but there are some quick guidelines. Always start with the three Ds, Dead, Diseased and Damaged. Any plant material that comes into these categories needs to come out. Roses, small flowered clematis, like the montanas and summer flowering shrubs such as buddleia all benefit from pruning now.
■ Watch the weather. Easter is always a traditionally busy time for garden centres. All too often a few fine days begin to appear and people will rush out and buy bedding plants that have not yet been hardened off. A late frost, and they're not that unusual, and too much optimism may cost you dear. Be prepared to cover tender subjects with fleece or bring them inside if late frosts threaten.
■ Towards the end of March give your lawn its first cut. This should not be too low so you may need to raise the blades a little. Cutting it too short, too quickly will weaken the grass. The best advice is to reduce it by a third of its current height.
"Grow something different. Gardeners are conservative creatures. Many grow the same species year after year, and by doing so, miss out on so much."
|
|
