Juliet Sargeant shares easy tasks that will bring some colour and life back to your garden.
Modern Slavery Garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show (24th May 2016)
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It’s time to bulb
Spring bulbs are a must for bringing the garden back to life after a cold winter. It is a little late now for planting daffodils but you can plant snowdrops ‘in-the-green’. This means planting when the bulb still has leaves.
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Get creative with garden tubs and baskets
Tubs and baskets give a cold-weather garden a much-needed splash of colour. Try hyacinths, cyclamen and winter pansies.
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Year-round crab apples
Some crab apples can stay on the bare stems of the tree until the end of the year, meaning you have a bright supply throughout the seasons. My favourite, and the plan I always keep in the back of my head, is to plant the bright red ‘baubles’ of Malus Red Sentinel at Christmas. 4Fabulously fresh greenery It’s not just about pretty plants. Some plants have lovely fresh green leaves as they emerge from the bare ground in spring. I love daylilies, hostas and the bright fronds of ferns as they start to unfold. 5Stay on top of tidying Late winter and early spring are the times to make sure you have taken all the dead leaves out of your pond and raked them off the lawn. But don’t throw them away! They are full of fibre and nutrients that you can use to feed your soil in the form of compost.
Lily flowers in the garden
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Fabulously fresh greenery
It’s not just about pretty plants. Some plants have lovely fresh green leaves as they emerge from the bare ground in spring. I love daylilies, hostas and the bright fronds of ferns as they start to unfold.
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Stay on top of tidying the garden
Late winter and early spring are the times to make sure you have taken all the dead leaves out of your pond and raked them off the lawn. But don’t throw them away! They are full of fibre and nutrients that you can use to feed your soil in the form of compost.
