Plantcare
Daffodil dead-heading
As daffodils bloom and die back, remember to remove any perished flowerheads. This will drive the plant’s energy below the surface into the bulb, ensuring a strong display next year as all that photosynthesis is directed towards the plant’s battery below ground. Remember to leave the leaves and stem though as this is where the photosynthesis is taking place.
A bit of support
If you have any climbing plants yet to kick into action, or young climbing plants newly-planted, it’s a sensible idea to add supports now. This serves the dual purpose of giving the plant something to grow up as it springs into action, as well as saving you having to untangle it to guide it where you’d like it to grow later in the season. A real ‘work smart, not hard’ job.
What to chop
Cut back your Cornus
The beautiful fiery colours of Cornus or Dogwood, if you have them in your outdoor space, will have helped to provide some much needed interest over winter. It’s why they’re one of our favourite plants. Now it’s time to say goodbye for another year though. Cut them back to the base, allowing room for new plants to grow fresh and green. Their colours will transition back to the flame-reds and oranges we love so much later in the year, and function as a fantastic structural shrub with beautiful flowers through spring and into summer.
Dead-head Hydrangeas
If, like us, you’ve left your Hydrangea flowerheads over winter for a bit of interest, and a nice habitat for bugs, now is the time to trim them back. Cut last year’s growth, leaving about a third behind from the bottom, before any new growth starts to appear.
Tidy up dead perennials and grasses
Any grasses and perennials left brown and stiff over winter can now be removed. You may have removed much of the old growth from last year already, but it’s worth one final once over to ensure that the path is clear for new growth and to remove any material that presents any risk of rotting and damaging the new growth. Basically, give everything a good tidy up.
Feeding time
There’s usually always something that benefits for a bit of a feed with the right kind of plant food for a bit of extra nourishment. Here’s a few for spring.
- Ericaceous plants, in particular Camellia which flower at this time of year, really benefit from a glug of ericaceous plant food. You can pick it up at any garden centre. Follow the instructions and you’ll encourage a healthy display this year and into the future.
- Mulching your flower beds is also not a bad idea at this time of year. Whether peat-free compost, woodchips or bark, or manure – if you, for example, have access to a herd of cattle – any healthy covering of the bare spots on your flower beds is well worth the effort. It will mean a strong summer display, and will replenish the soil with much-needed nutrients after winter.
- Mulching your pots is also a good idea. Before anything reemerges later in the spring, now is a perfect time to add a decent layer of good quality compost to your pots. It will make up for any compacting, replenish nutrients, and, if you have a balcony like mine where there’s not much to do at the moment, will make you feel like you’ve achieved something.
Other bits and bobs
Clean your cans
Give your watering can a good scrub and a disinfect. It’s quite possible that plant-based diseases have sat dormant in it over winter and this very simple job can help prevent any thing of that sort ruining your hard work.
Weeds
Keep an eye on weeds as the season progresses. You’re about to enter weeding and watering season and, unfortunately, these are ever the jobs of gardeners. Weeding plants when they’re young and haven’t fully taken hold is, obviously, much easier.
Plastic and metal cans both benefit from a good clean
Gardening for nature
Birdboxes
Spring is birdbox season. If you don’t have one, consider installing one – they make such a difference to a wide variety of birds. The RSPB sells a variety of designs for difference nesting requirements of different species – from swallows and martins to blue tits to, even, owls. If you have an existing bird box, give it a thorough clean with warm soapy water. Avian diseases are, sadly, on the rise and so if you’re encouraging birds into your garden it’s prudent to ensure minimal transferrence of any bird-spread nasty stuff.
Pondlife
If you’ve ever thought about introducing a pond into your garden, March is a great time to do so as it is likely to be very welcome for frogs and newts (and, let’s face it, why else would you have a pond?). There’s plenty of advice online as to how to create a small nature pond, but we like this guide from The Wildlife Trusts.
