Spring is in sight, which means it’s time to prepare the garden for the season ahead. There are plenty of jobs to keep you busy in March, from sowing and growing to pruning and tidying back shrubs and hedges. We’ve put together our list of different ways to prepare your garden for spring and summer.
1. Focus on lawn care
After a long autumn and winter season, it’s a good chance that you’ll lawn will need to be revived for spring.
- For established lawns, we recommend mowing them during mild dry weather and when the grass has begun to grow. For the first cut of the year, raise the blades higher than your usual cutting height, approx 0.5cm.
- It’s always a good idea to straighten your lawn edges to ensure a neat and tidy look - use a half-moon iron or spade along with a straight board for a guide.
- If you have any moss in your garden, use a spring-tined rake to remove this from the lawn - this will help the grass grow healthier.
- Use a lawn fertiliser mix to give your lawn some much-needed nutrients - this can help make your grass greener and tougher for the season ahead.
2. Prune climbing and bush roses
February or March is the best time to prune most roses, however, check your rose species for more specific timing. Use secateurs to make clean cuts, clearing dead or diseased stems and removing any poorly flowering or old stubs that are not producing new shoots. Ensure that your cuts are no more than 5mm above a bud. Top Tip: Take particular care to slope your cuts downwards away from buds, as this ensures water doesn’t collect on the bud.
3. Start on your summer flowers
Early spring is a great time to plant summer flowering bulbs. Plant tubers or frost tender bulbs as per the packet instructions - think dahlias, lilies, begonias and gladiola. March is also the perfect time to start sowing the bedding plants for your borders and summer pots. We particularly love sweet peas, delphiniums, sunflowers, marigolds, poppies, petunias, and cosmos – bringing country cottage flowers to the garden and attracting pollinators. It's also the perfect time to plant any new roses, shrubs and climbers that you might want to introduce to the garden this year.
4. Start sowing your fruit and vegetables
As the weather starts to get warmer, it’s time to begin sowing early crops of vegetables and fruit, so grab your gardening gloves and tool set!
- March is the perfect time for sowing tomatoes, aubergines, sweet peppers, and chillies in pots indoors.
- You can also start an early crop of carrots under fleece or cloches.
- Onions and shallots can be planted.
- As soon as the soil starts to warm up, you can sow parsnips – it might seem too early, but they have a long growing time and are slow to germinate.
- Now is the time to start planting early potatoes.
- Plant strawberries several weeks before the last frost – keep these in hanging baskets to protect them from slugs.
- In the greenhouse, you can start on lettuces, celery, French beans, peas, mangetouts and sweet peas – but keep these protected from hungry mice.
5. Invite the birds into the garden
Breeding season for birds has started, and it’s important to keep putting out feed for garden birds. From seeds and fat balls to ensuring they have plenty of fresh drinking water, it’s a great way to encourage nature into the garden. Ensure you protect flowers and vegetable crops with netting, as they might pinch these instead.
6. Have a general tidy-up
- Sweep up any fallen leaves left over from autumn and add these to your compost pile.
- Tidy any weeds that might have germinated - the more you remove now, the less you’ll have to do during spring and summer.
- Repair any broken flower beds and borders.
- Declutter and clean your shed and greenhouse - keep everything neatly organised. It makes life much easier during spring and summer. Hang up your garden accessories somewhere that you have easy access to.
Do you have any gardening tips to help prepare the garden for spring and summer? Let us know in the comments below.