Calendar Contents

• In Your Garden
• Bulbs
• For Your Fruit
• In Your Greenhouse

Spring is the busiest time of year, and you will need to spend more time in the garden. Despite everything that has got to be done, make some time to enjoy the profusion of plants bursting into life.

In addition to the bright colours of the bulbs and the early perennials, the new shoots and leaves that are appearing provide a wealth of different greens, worthy of any artist's palette.

In Your Garden

• The more that is done early the easier it will be for the rest of the year. Reduce the amount of work later by mulching borders now. This will help to keep down the weeds and also to retain moisture in the soil saving time watering
• Weeds should not be ignored as they are now growing rapidly.
• Seedlings are also growing fast and should be potted up as soon as possible before they get too large
• Pests are beginning to wake up after their winter's rest. Keep an eye out for these and take appropriate action
• Spring is the best time to seed new lawns or patch existing ones.
• Building a new pond - see our pond construction page
• Hoe and weed all borders and beds and then cover with mulch
• Pot on any plants as they outgrow their original containers
• Pot on cuttings of chrysanthemums, dahlias, pelargoniums, etc.
• Start to prepare containers and hanging baskets inside
• Sow hardy annual seeds direct in beds
• Remove foliage from bulbs as they begin to die back
• Plant gladiolus corms
• Water bulbs in pots until they die back
• Continue to plant summer- and autumn-flowering bulbs
• Deadhead bulbs after flowering to conserve the energy back into the bulb for next years growth
• Feed and weed lawn (use moss killer if this is also a problem)
• Plant Hardy perennials
• Finish pruning shrubs that flower on current years growth
• Tie in climbers
• Plant onions and shallots
• Earth up potatoes and cover if frost threatened

A pond can be a tremendous source of pleasure in any garden

Get earlier lettuce crops by
using cloches to warm the soil

Bulbs

• This is the time of year when bulbs come into their own. Enjoy the fruits of your planning and labours
• Plant Gladiolus corms
• Divide dahlia tubers and plant (unless in leaf)

Crocus

For Your Fruit

• Protect early fruit blossom from frost
• Protect fruit blossom from birds but allow access to pollinating insects
• Hand-pollinate early-flowering fruit
• Prune plum trees
• Weed and then mulch between bushes

In Your Greenhouse

• Still time to give the greenhouse a good spring clean if you have not yet done so
• Ventilate greenhouse well during the day
• Keep pots of growing plants damp but not soaking wet. Capillary matting is a great help
• Feed growing plants with a liquid fertiliser, but do not overfeed young plants. Use a high potash feed for flowering plants and a balanced formula for leaf growth
• Sow greenhouse tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines, melons and peppers in unheated greenhouse
• Plant cucumbers, aubergines, melons and peppers in heated greenhouse
• Sow runner beans for planting out
• Continue sowing tender annuals
• Pot up dahlia and chrysanthemum cuttings
• Continue sowing seeds for summer bedding
• Ensure you can maintain an acceptable temperature before you sow. Seedlings can be severely checked if transferred from a heated propagator to a cold greenhouse
• Prick out annuals as they germinate, don't put it off (the thought of pricking out can be a daunting prospect when there is a lot to do). Little and often is the key and it can then be very relaxing
• Continue to sow vegetable seeds ready to plant out

Hightop Propagator

Timber greenhouses are said to retain heat better than aluminium