It may seem a strange thing to recommend as we are entering a slightly damp few weeks, but new trees and shrubs (including those planted last year), will need watering.
Spring is a critical time for the success of planted or transplanted plants: their roots will have been either cosseted in nursery conditions or been in stable soil conditions. Unfortunately, a smattering of light showers will not be enough for the moisture to penetrate deep into the roots. Dig down into the soil if you don’t believe me!
You won’t need to drown your new arrivals in spring: a watering can a week for anything over 2m tall, half a can for anything over 1m and a quarter of a can for anything below is a good rule of thumb. Double it if there is a drought and halve it if wet weather prevails in spring.
Sort of better to be safe than sorry. Leaving a hose running isn’t the best idea (though the easiest whilst you go off and catch the last of the football): it is hard to quantify the amount of water, is easy to forget and isn’t cheap! Very dry soils like sandy soils need double the usual amount and very moisture retentive soils like clay need slightly less.
Tricky, isn’t it?! The key to success is choosing the right plant for the soil you have. Working with nature rather than against it…
So, other jobs to look at this month are:
• Move evergreens: this is the best time of year to move or plant evergreens. Avoid waterlogged or parched soils.
• Divide herbaceous perennials: Phlox, daylilies and Hosta are all best divided now.
• Deadhead daffodils: not a task to set yourself if you have hundreds of them! Otherwise, just leave them be, allowing photosynthesis to nourish the bulbs and cutting them back in June.
• Lawn repairs: now the frosts are receding, seed can be bought online and sown on patches that have become worn. Remember to prepare the ground by scraping off any unwanted weeds or worn grass and giving the area a good rake over. Add a sprinkling of compost and try to keep hungry birds away.
• Prune shrubs after they have flowered: Forsythia and Chaenomeles fall into this category. Hardy Fuchsia can be cut back to healthy buds.
• Pond plants: now is the time to get at the water lilies and marginal plants, to divide them into smaller clumps in order to avoid them choking the life out of a pond.
• Wildlife: if you are in the mood for clearing, cutting and composting, please be aware that this is the time of year when much of the local wildlife will be making their nesting homes. Avoid hedge cutting and be attentive when you are tidying up sheltered corners of the garden. You can help hedgehogs move around from garden to garden by making small gaps at the base of fences.
• Composting and mulching: add compost or well-rotted manure to borders and around the bases of trees and shrubs: this will help keep the moisture in, the weeds off and give a slow release of nutrients. It is a good time to turn your compost heap material too.
There is an exciting lushness to Spring and that, with the preponderance of yellows at this time of year, do much to announce that the colour and nature drama of the garden is about to unfold. Brace yourselves – it will as always be a somewhat unpredictable ride with the weather. But then, a lot of other things are at the moment too?