March in the Garden
Welcome to the March edition of Fiveways Gardens
It's time to spruce up the garden in time for the major burst of growth that's coming over the next few months. Somehow, the fresh new leaves of spring never look great set amongst the brown decaying mush of the previous years growth. All the bugs and beasties that were happily overwintering in the leaf litter and hollow stems are most likely up and about by now so it's time for a clear out. Tidying now also helps keep plant diseases at bay. Most of what we grow is really pretty hardy in all senses, but if you've a favourite plant, say a lovely rose that has black spots on the leaves, then clearing them both off the plant and from the ground under the plant helps keep the problem contained. Fungicides are available but more recent studies are showing that they can do more harm than good as they wipe out "good" fungus too. as usual in gardening, you takes your choice.
A common question at this time of year is what to do with Narcissus and other bulbous plants once they have finished flowering. It's best to dead head but leave the leaves to enable the plant to put it's energy back into the bulb for next year. Adding a bit of fertiliser at this time, especially if the flowers were disappointing this year, is a good idea.
It's not too late to prune shrubs and trees if you've not got round to it before. So long as severe aren't threatened now's a good time to prune lavenders and other silver and grey leaved mediterranean type plants. This will keep the plants looking compact and full of leaf right down to the ground.
Now's the time to give your pond a good clean. Get rid of some of the old plants, splitting them and re-planting in fresh aquatic soil if they didn't perform particularly well last year. If you haven't got a pond, think about how you can introduce water to your garden. Just an old washing up bowl, sunk into the ground and planted up will attract all sorts of wildlife. Watching gold finches, black birds and a song thrush splashing about in my pond this winter made me a happy bunny. I'm also looking forward to seeing if I can spot a newt in the pond again. My pond's only 2 years old and newts moved in straight away. It's at this time of year, while the water is relatively settled and not much is growing that if you're patient, you can spot them. Then of course there's the joy of watching little froglets hopping around. But I'm getting ahead of myself - that comes later.
Happy gardening
Lisa
For an initial consultation call Lisa on 01273 500407 or 07957 751218 or email her at info@lilybud.co.uk
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