Spring - What needs doing?

As Winter comes to a close (Although it doesn't feel much like it some days!) we have a few pointers for all you gardeners who want to get started on the garden and get it ready for this year!

Deadheading - there may be plants in your garden that will need to be deadheaded at this time of year for any that have not already been done. Deadheading is a super simple process but very important to giving them a better chance at producing fuller blooms this year. As you deadhead a plant and remove the flower that has faded and lost its colour it will mean the plant can focus its energy on producing new flowers rather than trying to revitalise old flowers or having to drop them itself.

Plus it can help with cleanup, if you wait too long then flowers will soon start to scatter across your garden and will be easier to keep clean if (aptly said) "nipped at the bud".

For potted plants and plants in the ground, it would be well worth getting a top-dressing of fresh compost to provide a bit of nutrients into the soils.

Stormy Weather and Late Frosts - Keep your eye on the weather to look for signs of a late frost that may hurt your new plants, a bad frost might hurt if you have just put out seedlings or even just young plants.

Weeding and pests! - It can be a laborious job, but an essential one! Going through the ground and removing all the Weeds that may have sprung up over winter. Making sure to firmly pull out all the roots to stop them from coming back, be careful about using any sort of chemicals on areas where you want to plant, as this may affect the area and damage/kill any future plants in the area.

Now the main pests in the Garden you would want to look out for would be slugs especially if you are planting veggies in your garden!

There are a few methods you can use to protect your fresh crops, a popular trap would be to use a half filled jar with Beer and sink that into the ground near to the plants to attract and trap the slugs, or perhaps simply making the soil near the plants harder for the slugs to move on using sharper or rougher textures mulches as well as a copper based barrier have been known to help repel the slugs. Most of all though would be to keep an eye on your plants especially in the evening to stop those pests!

These are the main points about what to brace for in this coming Spring, for further information please browse our website particularly our 'Help Me Choose' section which is innovatively designed to help you find the right plants for your garden or landscape. For any additional advice or enquiries please email us on support@grasslands.co.uk.