After one of the severest winters for many years gardeners will be hurrying to catch up preparing for the spring. Hopefully the hard frosts will have done good by breaking up the soil which had been dug and will have got rid of some of the bugs which cause problems. Lawns may have suffered and will need to be spiked, aerated and fed. As soon as weather permits, apply a good lawn fertilizer (with added moss killer if necessary). Start cutting as soon as the grass begins to grow and keep up with the mowing regularly but do not cut too short. This is a good time to turf or seed new grass areas but do make sure that the ground is well prepared and firmed before doing so. Hedging plants such as beech, privet and quickthorn are usually sold as bare root plants, as are raspberry canes, and this is the last month that these can be planted until next autumn. Container-grown plants can be planted throughout the year, but there are a lot of advantages to be gained by planting them during the spring. The hardy plants in the herbaceous borders will need to be cut back now and lifted and divided if getting too big, and it is a good time to add new plants.
In the vegetable garden it’s time to start sowing broad beans and peas, early carrots, beetroot, turnips, parsnips and cabbage Greyhound. Onion sets, shallots, Jerusalem artichokes and early seed potatoes will need to be planted. In the greenhouse, tomatoes, aubergines, cucumbers, French beans and peppers should be sown.
Busy Lizzies, petunias, marigolds, lobelia and alyssum should be sown now under glass. Outside, clarkia, eschscholzia, godetia, larkspur, nasturtium and nigella can be sown direct in the soil now. Pansies, myosotis, Canterbury bells and sweet williams can be planted out. In the garden centre there is now a big selection of plug plants and starter plants ready for potting up and bringing on in the greenhouse. This is the time to prune roses and feed them. Late-flowering clematis and shrubs such as buddleia are pruned now. Toprose fertilizer is suitable for roses and shrubs. A special ericaceous fertilizer should be applied to rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias. It is time to start to plant summer-flowering bulbs such as gladioli. The daffodils will flower this month: after flowering they should be dead-headed and fed, leaving the leaves intact to help the bulbs to grow. The price of fertilizers has rocketed this year but old-fashioned farmyard manure is still a reasonably cheap option.
On March 21 it is the Chipperfield Horticultural Society’s Spring Flower Show. Sarratt have theirs on March 28 and the Bovingdon Show is on April 4. It is time now to apply for tickets for the Chelsea Flower Show which takes place from May 19-23. To book call 0844 209 1681.
Terry Simmonds