Looking After Your Garden In Spring
Whilst we might begrudge that hour’s sleep we lose when the clocks go forward, it does mean lovely longer and lighter evenings. Between the evenings and the brighter weekend weather, now is the perfect time to start heading back out into the garden again!
Here at Red Deer Village, each home comes with its own manageable sized garden; providing our residents with the perfect amount of space to create unique their own little havens. We love the way these plots brighten up our wee village, so we’ve put together some top tips for gardening this Spring!
Spring Clean
Preparing the garden in early Spring can go a long way to sustaining a healthy garden for the rest of the year.
Start by clearing flower beds and lawns of dead leaves and weeds. The more weeding you do now the better whilst the roots are shallow – it’ll save time and effort later when they grow out! You’ll want to remove dead plants, or replace perennials that didn’t survive the winter, and prune back climbers, shrubs and trees.
It’s good to start dealing with any pests early, so they can’t damage new shoots. By leaving them, you risk any good work you do in the garden now or later being destroyed.
What To Plant
Firstly, you’ll want to make sure to lay seed down on any bare patches of lawn. Once the garden is prepped and cleared, you can decide what you want to plant! Before disturbing flowerbeds, make sure the soil is dry enough – if you pick up a handful of soil it should fall apart, not stick together like glue.
As well as planting flowers which will flourish in Spring, such as snapdragons, redbuds, lilacs and tulips, you might also want to look at planting summer-blooming bulbs such as gladioli. Furthermore, now is a great time to plant some hardy annuals to enjoy them for longer, and plant perennials now to give them a good chance of a first flourish.
Whether you’re a keen vegetable gardener already, or you’d like to start this year, now is the time to plant things like garlic, onions and some varieties of potato. You’ll also want to transfer tomato plants from indoor pots, outside. RHS have a great vegetable planner if you’re really keen to get more into growing your own!
Later In Spring
Further into the season, think about maintenance. Keep an eye on any weeds that come through, look after your lawn, and spread mulch on soil.
With the Summer ahead, this is also a great time to look to the future and decide what to do with your garden next. Do you want to create new borders? Do you fancy introducing some climbers to the garden? Or maybe a vegetable patch?
Nearing the end of Spring, it’s time to deadhead and remove bulbs, and prune flowering shrubs.
Practical To-Do’s
As well as preparing and planting the garden, there are lots of practical bits and bobs to do in Spring that you’ll benefit from doing now rather than later.
If your tools have seen better days, now is a great time to see what needs a clean and what could be replaced. Take a good look round the garden and decide if there’s anything which needs fixing – maybe a gate, fence or trellis which has some winter damage. Perhaps, even, the bird feeder could do with a clean and refresh.
Before you start clearing your garden, this might also be a good time to start a compost heap/bin. Furthermore, you might also think about installing a water butt. With (slightly) drier months over summer, plants will need more water – so it’s a nice way to stay environmentally friendly.
There’s nothing better than watching your garden flourish over the Spring and Summer months. So swap gardening tips with friends, family and neighbours, and enjoy creating something spectacular for your home.