Is your garden ready for spring?

With milder weather hopefully on the horizon, now is a good time to get on top of some of those gardening jobs we have been putting off over winter to get our gardens looking great for the long weekends of spring and the late summer nights. 

So, what gardening jobs can be done in March?

The first job to consider which should make the biggest impact on a garden is lawn maintenance. Mowing the lawn and trimming the edges to keep the borders neat is a simple task to make any lawned garden look fresher and more inviting. Mowing the lawn encourages new growth of healthier thicker grass, creating a luxurious look whilst also blocking out weeds.

Pruning is also a great job for March. Prune wind damaged trees and shrubs or plants such as roses or winter flowering jasmine to encourage new growth and promote a healthier yield of flowers for the next season.

A job we all dislike is weeding, but it’s another task that can make all the difference to a garden! Here’s a tip to make weeding easier, do it when the ground is wet as the weeds will pull out easier! If you catch them whilst they’re still small they also won’t be so deeply rooted. It’s important to weed pathways and paving as the roots can be very invasive and destructive as well as making it look messy.

Now the garden is clear, what’s next?

Once your garden is tidy and weed-free you can start to inject some life and colour into the space! You can start sowing hardy annuals such as poppies and nasturtiums into flower beds or pots for a pop of colour. You can also plant summer flowering bulbs such as lilies, dahlias, gladioli and crocosmia either in the beds/borders or pots to give colour throughout the summer. Beware of planting bulbs such as agapanthus in the ground as these spread voraciously and can be difficult to maintain.

You can also sow native wildflower seeds in trays ready to be planted out later in the year. Native wildflowers are great for our wildlife population and pollinators, they can help to promote bee and butterfly populations in the UK, just look for the ‘RHS Plants For Pollinators’ logo on the seed packs.

Another way you can help local wildlife populations is to put food out for the birds, you can purchase feed and bird feeders from most local garden centres.

We recommend researching any plants prior to purchase to check the conditions they prefer and ensure their growing habits are manageable and suitable for your space. Gardeners World is a great source of information for almost any plants you can find in the UK including house plants. You will also find discount offers on plants and gardening tools which can help to keep the cost of maintaining a garden manageable on a strict budget.

If Maldon Lettings manage the property you live in, please write to us to obtain permission before making any major changes to your garden, if you are renting privately, please contact your landlord for permission.

Whether your garden is paved, lawn or otherwise, there are always things you can do to put your personality on the space without disrupting the landscape!