Homes & gardens
Spring into the garden with Hadlow College
May is generally about the right time to plant most bedding although the more impatient might want to plant up some containers that could be moved out of danger when frosts are forecast. By the same token, read the
SPRING is a glorious time in the garden – and a busy one too. Beds that were clear and clean one day can be sprouting hundreds of tiny weeds the next. Weeding starts now. Bare beds that have been prepared for sowing and planting can be covered with black plastic or one of the proprietary materials sold by the roll to suppress weeds.
It is important to consider what not
to do – and that includes planting out bedding. How tempting: a warm spring day and the garden centre displaying boxes and boxes of wonderful bedding plants. One swallow does not make a summer, and all that. As a cynical panellist on Gardeners' Question Time remarked, garden centres make a lot of money out of customers who have to replace summer bedding because plants have been killed off by frosts. The end of
information on the backs of seed packets carefully. The seed companies want gardeners to be successful – that is the way they develop brand loyalty. It is a fact that most failures and disappointments result from ignoring instructions in relation to when – and where – to sow. Jobs that involve trees and plants
are best carried out before new growth makes it more difficult – and all jobs are best completed before the really busy time commences. This is also a good time to scrub
birdbaths and bird tables. They should never be allowed to get dirty because that is the way diseases are spread but the chances are that a lot of containers and receptacles will have been allowed to develop a covering of algae. The RSPB recommends cleaning using a non-toxic product such as Enviroclens or Crystal. When household
disinfectants and detergents are used, it is very important to rinse off residues very thoroughly. This is an ideal time to inspect beds and borders, noting where gaps between plants will need to be filled. It might be fun to introduce some perennials that haven’t been grown before; alternatively, save money by splitting up existing plants. Get supports and stakes in situ before perennials put on a spurt of growth that will make a relatively easy job more difficult. Or why not prepare some small areas ready to scatter annual seeds when the time is right?
Supplied by Pat Crawford for Hadlow College
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