Prepare your garden for Spring

Sometimes creating a beautiful garden can seem hard work. There’s so much pruning, sowing, mowing, planting, raking, digging and watering to do in just one season! But Spring is really the time for your garden to flourish. First on the agenda should be a thorough clean-up of all the winter debris. Rake your lawn, sweep all the dead leaves and be sure to tackle any weeds. It is much easier to remove young weeds with smaller roots at this stage in the year. Thoroughly check your plants for any signs of damage to prevent insects and fungi and do your first mow of the year. Regular mowing will keep your lawn healthy and under control. Consider introducing an environmentally friendly lawn fertiliser to tackle moss and weeds.

Spring is the best moment to start your own compost heap. Collect plant debris and old leaves and add these to your compost bin or pile. Chopping up the debris will help speed up decomposition. Make sure you add equal amounts of brown and green material in your compost heap, this helps keep the carbon:nitrogen ratio balanced. The next step should be getting your soil ready. Good soil is probably the most important factor for a beautiful garden so now is the time to to topdress your soil with a good quality compost. A 5-8cm layer over the top of your soil will enrich the soil with nutrients and make roots grow better.

Worms will rise to the surface aerating your soil further down. If your soil is pure clay, dig your compost down to a level of 50 cm, most plants don’t like to grow in clay, roots need air pockets and space to grow. If you’re going to buy pre-bagged compost do check the composition to ensure its quality. Low quality, cheaper composts are mostly wood products and sand and have very little nutrition so your plants will not grow well. Investing in good quality soil and compost is crucial for having a great garden. While you’re weeding and preparing your soil watch the light in your garden.

Check to see which parts get full sum, meaning at least 4 hours of direct sun a day, and which parts stay shady all day. This will give you a head start when you’re ready to plant. Once you start thinking about planting you’ll find there’s a huge variety of striking plants available.

Check with your quality nursery for hardy Mediterranean climate annuals that thrive in our mild climate and will give you spectacular spring blooms, so you can sit back and enjoy your beautiful Spring garden.