Garden jobs

All of a sudden we’re at home with more time than usual to spend in our gardens - here are some ideas to help you enjoy them and get them looking good. 

We apologise if we refer to things you don’t have… but are you sure…? This is a great time to sort out the shed, the kitchen drawer, the cupboard under the stairs, the corner in the garden and other hiding places for bags of compost, bottles of fertiliser, packets of seeds, boxes of lawn feed, tools, pots and all sorts of things you’d forgotten about.  Is there a bag of leaves which you diligently saved a couple of years ago to make leaf mulch?  Have you checked the bottom of the compost bin to see if it’s ready? You may be surprised at what you find!

The Natural Balance

Don’t become frustrated because you don’t have to hand the products you would normally rely on! Why not press the mental re-set button and use this as an opportunity to help re-establish the natural balance in your garden?

Rather than using chemicals to get rid of pests, encourage natural predators to your garden; rather than drenching plants with fungicide, try to figure out why you’re getting mildew/blackspot and see if you can stop it at source. 

If we take time to get to know our plants and allow their natural resilience to come to the fore, they will be happier, and - ultimately - we will have less to do to maintain their health. 

We intend to keep referring back to this theme over the coming weeks. We - and our gardens - will all ultimately benefit from the ‘less is more’ philosophy; fewer chemicals used, more natural wildlife; less time spent labouring, more time to relax and enjoy. 

To get you started with this idea, here are a couple of simple projects to consider:

Create a bug and beetle habitat  

Rather than throwing away twigs, sticks and other prunings, gather them together and put them in a sheltered part of the garden, thus creating a bug, beetle and insect ‘hotel’.  These beneficial creatures need nooks and crannies to hide in - logs with holes and fissures in them, bits of hollow bamboo canes, a pile of leaves.  If you have younger children, they can help, and then you can encourage them to observe which creatures start to use the habitat you’ve created.  The more natural wildlife you encourage, the quicker the natural balance will become re-established.  Ladybirds will eat aphids, beetles will munch on slugs, solitary bees and other insects will help with pollination.

Create a pond

No matter how small your garden, there is always room to bring water into it.  It could be simply a shallow plastic tray sunk into the earth and kept topped up with water, as this will provide a much needed drink to a wealth of creatures - birds, insects, hedgehogs - all of whom you want to encourage into your space. 

If you have room, a larger pond will pay enormous dividends, as you can then create a home for frogs who are wonderful at keeping all manner of unwanted pests at bay.  They will, for example, make a big dent in the slug and snail population as they love to eat them. 

Of course, there is the hard work first when you’ll have to get digging, but consider what a good work-out that will be!  You can create a formal pond, with a ‘proper’ pond liner (if you can get one), or make something more ‘artisan’ by using that old tin bath/sink/trug you’ve kept but never really found a use for.  Even an old tarpaulin (as long as it’s still waterproof and not filled with holes, of course) will make a perfectly useable liner.  Do make sure you receive some guidance on how best to position and create your pond - rather than spend ages doing so here, there’s lots of advice online … just wanted to plant the seed of an idea.

And then there are plenty of other, more mundane, projects to tackle … all those things you’ve been meaning to do but just never had the time for before:

• re-edging a border
• painting a fence
• scrubbing the terrace
• weeding the patio
• re-wiring the fence for climbers

We’ve been given time at home; try to get everyone involved in something outside - you may find a new interest and love for gardening develops in younger members of the family.

Okay, so now back to our more ‘normal’ layout of garden tasks.  Just do what you can, and don’t allow yourself to get stressed if you can’t do things the way you normally would.

General garden maintenance

• Tidy up beds and borders. Get rid of weeds which take moisture and nutrients needed by your plants. Dig out perennial weeds, and hoe away young annual weeds before they have a chance to get going.
• Tie in climbing and rambling roses and other climbers with string, ties or wire that won’t damage the growing stems. With climbing roses, tie the long stems as horizontally as possible which will encourage the plant to produce flowers all along the stem.
• Feed roses and other shrubs with proprietary or general fertiliser.
• Established garden borders really benefit from a good layer of organic mulch such as well-rotted manure or organic compost. It helps to retain moisture around plants, and the nutrients are gradually pulled down to the roots by worms and other bugs.  Before applying any form of mulch, ensure the area is weed free and that the soil isn’t dry.
• Place plant supports over and around tall perennials before they need them, for the plants to grow through. You may have specific supports which you use each year but if not, use twiggy branches from pruning, spare bamboo canes or other inventions.  Use string or twine to tie them together around the plant.
• Deadhead daffodils and other spring bulbs when the flowers have gone over, but leave the leaves to die down naturally. This will replenish the bulb’s energy to form next year’s flower.  To help further, give the leaves a dousing with liquid fertiliser such as tomato feed or other garden fertiliser, if you have some.
• Clean out and disinfect greenhouses and coldframes, also cleaning and lubricating garden tools.

Container gardening

• If you don’t have bags of fresh compost you can reuse old compost from last year which is probably still in pots and containers, as long as the previous plant wasn’t diseased. Tip it out, get rid of as much fibrous root as possible, add some bone meal or slow release fertiliser or Growmore if you have it, and off you go.
• Repotting - if a plant has outgrown the current pot and you don’t have the next size pot to move it into, take the plant out, reduce the roots by a quarter, removing any really thick roots and repot using fresh compost underneath. Plant at the same depth as before leaving 2.5cm below the rim of the pot for watering.
• Keep containers watered: wind and sun dry out compost quickly.  Bigger containers retain water, smaller pots need more frequent watering.

Pruning

• Prune early flowering Forsythia and Chaenomeles once they have finished flowering. Forsythia should have flowered stems cut back to a strong new sideshoot and a few of the oldest stems removed from the base.
• Prune late flowering deciduous shrubs such as Hydrangeas and Buddleia if you haven’t done so already — prune hard back to a leaf shoot or stem.
• Clip evergreen shrubs and hedges of Photinia, Prunus lusitanica, Hebes, Fatsia, Choisya and Mahonia, always to a point of well-placed lower growth. Always check that birds aren’t nesting before you start work.
• Camellias can be tidied up once the flowers have finished or pruned much harder if some renovation is needed.
• Cut perennials such as Penstemons, Verbena bonariensis, Gaura and other summer flowerers to new shoots on last year's growth.
• Trim lavender, especially if you didn’t in the autumn, cutting out old flower shoots, and shorten new shoots by 2cm.
• This is a good time to divide established bamboo, if necessary.

Planting and moving plants

• You probably aren’t buying new plants at the moment, unless you have luck with online retailers. However you may have plants which you bought a few weeks ago and haven’t yet got into the ground or might decide to divide existing plants which have become too big.
• Right plant, right place is a well known mantra. Always do some research on your plant to know the conditions it prefers.
• If moving plants, get the new space ready first and then dig up the plant, divide it if necessary, and plant in the new position.
• Plant well — have a look at our Planting guide.
• Plant out autumn sown sweet pea plants, or direct sow seeds outside.

Growing from seed

• Lots of people are currently wishing they were more self-sufficient and want to grow more herbs and vegetables. Did you manage to buy seeds recently?  Have you got last year’s packets of seeds anywhere?  Most seeds are viable for several years.  You can check viability by putting seeds into water - if they sink, they’re good, if they float, they will fail.
• Always follow the instructions on the seed packet. Most can be sown over the next few months, there isn’t a mad rush.  Think about sowing salads and herbs in succession, little and often to spread the harvest.
• If you don’t have seed trays, propagators and other seed growing paraphernalia be resourceful - make paper flower pots from newspaper, use a clear lidded storage box as a propagator, use toilet roll tubes on a tray or box to start off beans, peas and other deep rooted plants. Egg boxes are great for starting off little seeds such as tender herbs and can then be broken into individual sections and planted out.
• Keep clear plastic juice and milk bottles to use as cloches to protect young seedlings.
• With tender vegetables, the smaller the seed, the earlier it needs to be sown, so start off aubergines, chilli peppers and tomatoes as soon as you can — in seed trays in a greenhouse or on a windowsill.
• April is normally the month to begin seed sowing outside, but only once the temperatures have begun to rise. Carrots, beetroot, peas, broad beans, lettuce and spinach can all be sown directly into prepared drills.
• Towards the end of the month and into May, larger seeds such as sweet corn, courgettes, squash, pumpkins and runner beans can be sown directly
• All tender vegetable seedlings should be hardened off before planting out and not put outside until the risk of frost has passed. A cold frame is invaluable for hardening off, if you have space.
• Direct sow sunflowers, poppies, pot marigolds and other annual flowers.
• Seeds will germinate more easily in a warm soil so it may be worth warming the soil before sowing or planting, with cloches, sheets of plastic or old carpet.

Fruit & Vegetables

• Whatever size your vegetable plot is, it pays to plan. Use techniques of crop rotation (moving crops you grow each year from one area to another), successional growing (growing quick cropping plants such as lettuce or pea shoots at regular intervals) and intercropping (for example growing quick radishes or lettuce in between rows of sweetcorn or potatoes before they grow and block the light)
• Sow quick maturing leaf crops at two week intervals to have a steady supply of cut and come again salad. Try lettuce, chard, beetroot, spinach, and any other favourites.  Rows of seeds can be a centimetre apart, in a seed bed or in a grow bag or container.
• When tomato seedlings have their first pair of true leaves, pot on into individual pots. Grow on in a bright spot and plant into their final growing positions once the first flowers turn yellow.
• Thin carrot seedlings in the evening when there are fewer carrot flies around.
• Feed soft fruit bushes and strawberries with a general fertilizer to encourage bumper crops.
• Fruit bushes and trees can be planted, but pinch out flowers and small developing fruit in the first year so that the plant’s energy goes into building a strong root system.

Herbs

• Sow and plant new herbs to have a continued supply through the year ahead. Rocket, basil, coriander, dill and others can be sown at 2/3 week intervals.
• If mint has been in the same container for more than a couple of years, empty it out, cut it into quarters and replant two quarters back-to-back in fresh soil/compost.

Lawns

• Work on the lawn to get it ready for the summer months. Spike compacted areas with an aerator, or a garden fork, and apply a fertiliser or top dressing, if you have some.
• Neaten the edges - this is a satisfying job which will improve the look of the lawn and flowerbeds or path. If you don’t have an edging tool, an old kitchen knife may work.
• Mow the lawn, if needed, on dry days with the blades set high for at least the first few cuts. Keeping the blades high this summer will help your lawn if you don’t have, or have run out of, lawn feed.
• Repair bumps and hollows in lawns by peeling back turf and adding or removing soil.
• Spring lawn feed products contain moss killer, weed killer and fertiliser — follow the pack instructions for rate of application. It can be useful to divide the lawn and the fertiliser into two or four to make sure you don’t use too much in the first section.
• After applying moss killer, rake out blackened moss and thatch 2 weeks later. Don’t worry — it will look worse before it gets better!  Once the grass is growing and you are regularly mowing, the moss will reduce.
• Sow lawn seed on bare patches, and water during dry spells.

Houseplants

• Start feeding house plants as they start putting on new growth.
• As you are at home more, get to know your houseplants a bit better. If they aren’t thriving, try changing the watering routine or move them to a new position with different light levels.

Pests and diseases

• Make the most of extra time at home with more patrols around the garden to check the health of plants.
• Check emerging growth in the garden and guard against slugs which will happily feast on young and tender leaves and shoots. Protect with a ring of grit or sand or crushed egg shells. Children love going out with a torch after dark with a bucket to collect slugs and snails, they are easily bribed! Warm soapy water, salt, emptied grapefruit halves and beer traps all have a place in the battle.
• Slugs dislike strong smelling plants, so try planting a selection of mint, chives, garlic, geraniums, foxgloves, lavender and fennel around the edge of your garden to deter them.
• Watch out for early insect attacks. Small infestations of aphids can be squashed by hand if you aren’t too squeamish.  Make up a solution of a few teaspoons of washing up liquid in a spray bottle of water and use every few days if the problem persists.
• Watch out too for Lily beetle, vine weevils and other infestations; remove and dispose of any you see.
• If things are left alone the natural balance in an outdoor space will return. Birds, ladybirds, beetles and others will help manage aphids and other pests.  Be aware of wildlife coming back into an area, and do what you can to encourage it.
• If using an insecticide, use it wisely to avoid killing beneficial insects. Don’t use sprays if there is even a whisper of a breeze, because the insecticide will be carried and land where not needed. If you must use it, ideally spray early morning or late evening when fewer flying insects are around.
• Look out for blackspot on roses and pick off affected leaves — early removal and control may eliminate the need for fungicide treatment. Dispose of the leaves rather than composting them.

Wildlife

• Enjoy listening to the birds and identifying them with youngsters, in the garden and out for your daily walks.
• Keep bird feeders topped up. Position feeders where you can see them from the house, and ideally out of reach of neighbourhood cats.  Bigger supermarkets will have bird food or you could make some homemade fat balls with old cooking fat, seeds. nuts, cereal - see what they like.
• Water is important for birds and other wildlife in the garden, so provide a saucer or bird bath which you top up daily.
• Ensure birds are not nesting before pruning evergreen shrubs and hedges.
• Sow or plant a wildflower area to encourage beneficial insects to the garden.

Finally

Spring is underway and despite everything else stopping, nature carries on as usual.  Trees are bursting into life as new leaves unfurl, sweet smelling blossom fills the air and borders are a lovely display of spring colour. Take time to enjoy it all.

While you can’t come to see us for plants and gardening equipment, you may find websites where you can buy odd things you need, from online retailers who are set up to do this.  It may take slightly longer than usual for deliveries, but it’s worth looking into.

We wish you well and hope that you find some sense of peace and escape in your outside space.