Under water gardening tips!!! For April

[Gardenman]

Wow! It?s been a long cold, wet & miserable winter hasn?t it! Even I succumbed to a bout of pneumonia! Still recovering

But our gardens go on & so will I now about what there is to do out there to bring us pleasure in our gardens when the sun does come back! Are you sitting comfortably? Then I?ll begin:

1. If your lawns are still very wet, then aerate them with a fork every 6 inches to drain them off before walking on them! If they are wet, do not mow them, you will make a mess of them. When dried out just cut the top off with your mower & give them a nitrogen feed. Not too much or you will burn them & need a new lawn. If you have moss in your lawn, then wait til it turns black & take it all out. Then make up a mixture of soil, kiln dried sand & lawn seed & sprinkle liberally.

When the seed is established mow in straight lines & next cut, cut it on the bias. This will strengthen the roots. A good tip to carry out during the summer.

2. Lift & divide perennials. Like Hostas, snowdrops. Lift the whole plant with a fork & split with two spades, re plant. Free plants!!

3. Plant summer flowering bulbs still available in shops & nurseries. While doing this fork your borders & weed them. Add a layer of multi purpose compost & manure to break up, feed & dry the soil out a bit.

4. Prune bush & climbing roses always back tight to a bud giving shape to bush roses. Give a good feed of blood & fish bone or manure.

5. Cut back late flowering deciduous shrubs & trees; Salic, Eucalyptus, Ceonothus & Hydrangeas.

Check all hedges & trees for nesting birds before cutting back. Beware of Buxus disease, keeping shears, secateurs & hedge trimmers blades clean. Probably a good idea to grub any diseased plants out, they will not recover. There are now many interesting plants that can replace them.

Cut back ornamental grasses & strip away dead & diseased leaves from Hellebores ( Christmas roses)

6. Propagate any Dahlia tubers you May have by putting them in pots filled with multi purpose compost & keeping warm. When they have grown shoots 2-3 inches long, cut them off dipping in hormone powder & planting in seed compost. More free plants! All donations from the money I save you will be gratefully received. :-))

7. Top dress your alpines & rockery plants with horticultural grit for added drainage after cleaning away dead leaves & debris

8. Still with me? There?s still time to plant deciduous hedging if you can find it in the nurseries. Be adventurous! Also still time to plant roses, shrubs, climbers & trees digging a hole one & a half times the size of the rootball & lining with manure & heeling in well. Any holes left will fill with water & rot the roots!

9. Prune evergreen Choisya, Laurel & late flowering clematis, these to 2nd or 3rd buds from the ground. 12 - 15 inches

Cut back Cornus quite low to give new form & shape to these plants.

10. Not far to go now! Most pests will have been killed off by this winter, but if there are any left, try to use your hands to remove them or a weak soapy spray. Today?s weed & pest killers are not good for our wildlife, pets, children or us!!

11. If you have a pond, clean leaves & debris away gently avoiding frogs spawn.Clean pumps & filters & check lighting.

Top up the pond with rainwater if you have a water butt. If not, fill it over a week or two from the tap. Add a water treatment.

12. Still a good time to replace lawns as long as you rotovate them to get air into the soil & apply a feed before laying a top grade turf. Probably have to wait around 4 weeks before mowing & being able to walk on it.

That?s it, not too bad was it? Just to say as always, if you can?t do this yourselves, get one of the well recommended gardeners on this forum to help out. Once again after a couple of stories, I remind you, cheapest is not best, check they know what theyre doing, get 2 or 3 quotes & use your intuition.

We have some work on at the moment, but running slow due to this awful weather. It?s a really good time to get lawns, patios & decks done in time for summer, or revamp/redesign your garden, so feel free to give me a call on my new number( no thanks to 02 for for that!) & I?ll be happy to offer some ideas, quotes or help.

Happy & hopefully dry gardening!

Nigel Nigel

Exterior Design Gardens

07759862191

[Gardenman]

Forgot to say, remember to power wash decks & wooden structures, allow to dry & then give a wood treatment or better still a polyeurathane paint. Huge colour selection available. This will protect your wood for years to come.

We are just coming to the end of our 2 projects, so we have space for more work coming up next week. So let me know if you have any questions or requests. We offer free quotes, Design & gardening advice & still loving what we do

[yeknomyeknom]

I love these posts. Thank you.

[Gardenman]

Why thank you. I love to entertain as well as doing a bit of gardening in between:-))