Be Inspired by Spring!

3 April 2009

"Spring has sprung, the grass is riz I wonder where the birdies is". The ditty sung by my six year old eloquently sums up for me the madness that is April in the garden. Both for the professional and Joe Blogs this is it - nature is out there, all guns blazing, banging on your garden shed.

Now perhaps you are the organised type who has everything under control, beds mulched and edged and new plantings in, not a weed in site. Or perhaps you are normal, have a life and are starting to panic, wondering where to start. Sit down, have a stiff drink and prioritise.

There should be no leaves blowing around at all, shame on you if there are. Straight into the compost heap and if it's full, it won't take long to remove last years and fork lightly into the beds, giving the worms a high in the process.

The singularly most important task to impress a spouse or neighbour is edging. So many times I meet a new client and point out that with just half an hour's edging the whole garden could be transformed. On from that, it's time the old mower was put to work. Ideally a full service is in order, but at the very least sharpen or get a new blade. It's a man thing - make a great commotion, lots of noise, build up a sweat cutting the grass within an inch of its life, and then have the wise old sage next door smugly inform you of the clanger you have just made. Grass needs to be trimmed not butchered. Little and often is the order of the day with a proprietary spring feed an absolute must in our impoverished sandy soils.

Feel the need to block out any neighbouring washing lines and au pairs sunbathing? Try Photinia 'Red Robin' or Viburnum rhytidophyllum which are resilient, attractive and will do the job. Look for infill in the form of summer flowering Hydrangea quercifolia and Choisya ternata, both having the RHS award of garden merit and prolonged flowering. Impress the neighbours by planting the startlingly colourful Rudbeckia 'Goldstrum' and the peacock butterfly and hummingbird hawk moth attracting Verbena bonariensis. Most of all enjoy your garden!

Tony Richards