Eight spring jobs to do in your garden now
February felt unrelentingly wet, leaving many of our gardens muddy and uninspiring. As daffodils and blossom appear along with the lighter days and warmer weather, now is the time to give your garden some attention, in preparation for the warmer months and outdoor entertaining just a few short months away. So what jobs are worth doing this month to help your garden look its best by summer?
1. Give your lawns some tlc
The grass will need mowing in March but not too short, just a light trim for the rest of this month. This encourages good root growth and results in healthier grass better able to resist a summer drought. It is also worth giving the lawn a good scratch with a wire rake to remove thatch and moss. This lets light and water get to the soil and to the roots of the grass and it will grow back thicker than ever.
2. Bulbs season
Tulips, hyacinths, and daffodils are a fail-safe way to bring joy to a space. If you don’t have room for borders or beds, then containers are a fabulous way to give a patio or terrace a boost. If you didn’t plant bulbs back in autumn, fill up your favourite pots with plants from the garden centre instead, to make a quick, show-stopping, display. Never cut back, tie or tidy the leaves of any bulbs. Let them die back naturally as next year’s flower is being created by the photosynthesis of the foliage. Wait until at least June when the last trace of green has gone, and then cut back the dead foliage.
3. Sow annual seeds
This is the time to sow annual seeds, such as cornflowers, poppies, and nigella directly into beds. Keep the soil damp while they germinate and thin them out as they grow if they look too crowded.
4. Prune roses and hydrangeas
Early-on in spring is the best time to prune roses, up to late March. Don’t forget to prune your hydrangeas and clematis too, and the one rule to follow is always cut back to something, be it a side shoot or leaf bud. The reason for pruning is to encourage new growth that will in turn produce lots of flowers and, in climbers such as clematis, to stop the flowers being produced ever higher and higher up the plant leaving the lower portion bare.
5. Planting
If your soil is ready, then March is a good time to plant and move things around. ‘Ready’ means warm enough and you’ll know this by touch. If a handful of earth feels cold, then seeds will not germinate, and roots will not grow. If it feels warm, holds together when squeezed and yet can easily be crumbled then it is ideal. Although March is often too early to plant out young seedlings it is perfect for planting woody shrubs so that the roots can start to grow before the demands of new foliage kick in. These are plants that will hopefully be in the garden for years to come, so it is worth planting them carefully. Remove all weeds and dig a shallow hole about 9 inches deep. No compost or soil improver is needed, but water well before mulching thickly with good compost.
6. Allotment or veg garden
Do not sow any seeds outside if the ground feels cold to touch. Sow seeds such as cabbage, lettuce, celery, beetroot, and tomatoes under cover. If warm and dry enough, sow broad beans, beetroot, rocket, spinach, mizuna, parsnips, radish, and winter lettuce.
Chit potatoes and plant out at the end of the month if the ground is dry enough.
Dig in overwintering green manure.
Dig any unprepared ground and/or make raised beds by the end of the month.
Prune gooseberries and red and white currants.
7. Patrol for pests
Warmer weather brings out the slugs, snails, and aphids, all ready to tuck into tender young leaves and shoots. Make a ‘slug pub’ for snails: this is a pot filled with beer that’s sunk into the soil, with its rim standing proud of the surface so beneficial beetles and other ‘good’ critters don’t fall in and drown.
8. Wildlife in the garden
Look after garden birds
Most birds are nesting and laying eggs this month and many will start rearing young. This time of year is tough for birds and there is not much natural food around, so keep feeding them all month with high energy items such as suet balls, peanuts, and sunflower seeds.
A shout out for hedgehogs
Hedgehogs are now on the Red List of endangered species and gardens are important sanctuaries for them. You can help boost their numbers by leaving a patch of garden to grow wild so they have somewhere to hide, and by providing water, meat-based pet kibbles or specialist hedgehog food, widely available from pet shops and garden centres. You can also cut CD-sized holes in your fence so hedgehogs can forage and socialise without needing to cross busy roads.
