Spring into action

It’s that time of year again. The days are starting to get longer, there’s not so much of a nip in the air and the garden is beckoning. Siren-like, it whispers of honeysuckle-scented summer barbecues, twilight cocktails under rose-festooned pergolas, lush green lawns and manicured beds. Sadly, when you don your wellies you find a winter of neglect has left it leaf-strewn, weed-choked, waterlogged and barren. So where to start? Claire Coleman asks some of the country’s top gardeners for advice

Matt James
Matt James, Channel 4’s eponymous City Gardener, is the author of three books including The City Garden Bible (Channel 4 Books, £20).

“If there’s still the possibility of frost, hold off planting and stick to tidying up and non-plant stuff. Don’t be seduced by garden centres selling bedding plants like snapdragons, calendulas and busy Lizzies. They don’t like frost. People want spring to start and spend a fortune on them; they stick them in the ground too early and the frost gets them. Unless you’ve got a heated greenhouse don’t plant things like this until at least the first or second week in May.

“Get your soil, the life-blood of the garden, in tip-top condition. You don’t have to go to the garden centre and buy expensive composts. Use mushroom compost, or leaf mould—throw all the fallen leaves from the garden into a bin bag, make a few little holes in it and let it break down.

“It’s also a great time to be doing hard landscaping as the light is good and the days are longer. If you’ve spent the winter months thinking about what you want to do, implement it now. By the time you’ve finished it’ll be just the right time to work on your soft landscaping. I think it’s crazy that people wait until May and all the bank holidays before they start work. By doing that, they’re missing out on prime weather for plants.”

Pippa Greenwood
Pippa Greenwood is a gardening broadcaster and writer. A regular on BBC Radio 4’s Gardener’s Question Time, she is also the author of Pippa Greenwood’s Gardening Year (Headline, £16.99).

“Have a proper look around so you can act promptly if there are any problems. Catching something early on when it’s still small and contained is much easier than waiting and dealing with something once it’s become a big infestation.

“Tidy up, especially around beds and borders. At this time of year, snails are just coming out of hibernation and slugs are becoming more active, and with all the new soft growth on your plants this can be a recipe for disaster. Check under loose paving stones and piles of plant pots and behind any containers. Also inspect the soft growth on shrubs and plants and keep a special eye out for greenfly or blackfly.

“With all pests and bugs, first try to prevent them with good gardening. If that doesn’t work, try pinching off, cutting back or squidging off. As a last resort, go to the garden centre and look for a spray.

“People often assume that everything with legs is a problem. In fact, there are a lot of useful insects that don’t look appealing but do a very good job of eating other pests and helping your plants, so don’t go around indiscriminately removing everything. Gen up on what’s good and what’s bad and act accordingly.”

Kim Wilde
Pop star turned gardener Kim Wilde has written extensively on gardening. Her latest book, First-time Gardener (Collins, £17.99), is published this month.

“Any lawn is bound to need a lot of TLC after a cold and waterlogged winter. Start by gently raking it and removing all the dead grass, moss and leaves. Then gently prick it all over with a fork to help encourage drainage. You can fill the holes with top dressing which will help stimulate growth, but don’t be tempted to cut it just yet. You could damage it very easily. Wait for the grass to dry out and then for the first cut, set the blades quite high so you don’t take too much off or end up digging into the soil.

“Now is the time to be sowing the sort of hardy annuals that won’t be killed off by a late frost. Marigolds are great in any garden as they’re good for attracting the sort of insects that will keep your garden free of aphids. Cornflowers are lovely, too, and the poached egg plant is a particular favourite of mine. These are great flowers for beginners as they don’t need much time, give results in a few months and will self-seed as well.

“Roses soldier on through most things. I love rugosa—it’s tough as old boots—and spring is a good time to buy bare-root roses from a rose specialist and plant them out. If you’ve already got some, you should be looking to prune them, as you would all deciduous shrubs. Cut out anything that’s dead, damaged or tatty. It’s amazing what a difference it will make.”

Monty Don
Monty Don is a familiar face on several gardening programmes including the BBC’s Gardener’s World and Channel 4’s Real Gardens. In addition to columns in magazines and newspapers, he is the author of several gardening books.

“Whether you’re growing onions or roses, your plants will only ever be as good as your soil, so now is the time to take stock. When it comes to vegetables, soil texture and structure—not just the nutritional content—will determine the quality of your crop, so it’s imperative to get it in good condition.

“Start by digging out any perennial weeds. It’s slow and painstaking work and there are no shortcuts. Don’t think that you can chop them off or that they’ll just go away—they won’t.

“Add garden compost into the soil. If you haven’t got any, make a compost heap. You cannot grow garden vegetables without one. It should have two major sources of compost, grass clippings and vegetable waste. Because of this, it becomes a self-perpetuating thing: the more veg you grow, the more vegetable waste you have; the more compost you have, the more veg you grow and the better they will be; the better veg you have, the better-quality compost you’ll get.

“Also it’s worth investing in a greenhouse or cold frame to protect plants and raise seedlings. Now is the time for you to start sowing your first crops—tomatoes and chillis under glass, rocket, early lettuce, onions, shallots, garlic. But if you don’t plant garlic on the day you buy it, keep it in the fridge as it needs at least nine days in the cold to germinate.”

Charlie Dimmock
One of the BBC’s instantly recognisable Ground Force team, Charlie Dimmock has also written several gardening books. She is renowned for her expertise with water features.

“Fluctuating temperatures mean spring is one of the worst times for ponds. First check on your fish. They live off their body fat in winter, so could be run-down and prone to disease. A general tonic will pep them up. If you’re going to feed them, use low-protein food. If it gets cold again they’ll struggle to digest high protein foods.

“The light levels will increase but, as it’s not warm enough for the plants just yet, you may find your pond goes green as the algae take over. This is perfectly normal. Just wait for the plants to get going and it will clear.

“If it’s been a very hard winter and the pond has frozen over, think about doing a partial water change—about 10 per cent of the water. If it’s been a mild winter and lots of fish or newts have been nibbling at your oxygenating weed, buy some more: they’re the workhorses of your pond and help keep the water clear and sweet.

“Most importantly, don’t panic. People have a tendency to fiddle too much when they see a murky green pond. Marginal plants probably don’t need repotting, you’ll just end up putting more nutrients in the pond and it will get murkier. Wait until at least the end of April before making any drastic changes, and even then, don’t empty and refill it. Invest in plants that will do the work for you and wait till May and June when things should be looking better. Here, patience really is a virtue.”

Sarah Raven
Sarah Raven is a presenter on the BBC’s Gardener’s World. Her latest book is The Great Vegetable Plot (BBC Books, £20)—she also runs gardening and cookery courses from her home in Sussex.

“Now is a good time to think about planting. Dahlias are great. They flower prolifically for four to five months, are very easy to grow and are increasingly available in fantastic colours—deep purples, magentas and crimsons. They are very tolerant but not frost-hardy: store the tuber in a pot somewhere cool and light so it can begin to grow, then, when the frost is over, plant it out. Other good choices are sunflowers, cosmos purity, love-in-a-mist and poppies.

“One of the biggest mistakes people make when planting is to overcrowd, which means plants can’t put down strong roots. They may flower and seed but without enough food, water and air they will die.

“Avoid this by sowing properly. Choose and prepare a patch. If the soil is heavy, add a bag of grit and mix it in well; if free-draining, add a bag of organic matter. Once the ground has been prepared, use canes to divide it up into a noughts-and-crosses grid and sow three to four inches apart. After a month to six weeks, thin to about 12 inches for most plants (18 inches for sunflowers and cosmos).

“Water heavily to settle the plants in. Rather than just watering a little bit every day, it’s actually better to water a lot once a week and then stop, as the roots will find the water table.”

Tips from the top

Andrew Darragh, horticulturist at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, has the following advice for tidy spring gardening:

• Work around the weather. Cold days are for active work and warmer days for fiddly jobs. Wet days are ideal for mulching as moisture is trapped in the soil.
• If you’re tidying up edges of flower-beds, rather than making the bed bigger, cut a section of turf out, move it into line and fill and seed the gap.
• When using a ball of string, wrap tape around the outside of the ball and pull the string from the inside. This will stop it getting twisted and knotted.

Tips from the top

Colin Crosbie, superintendent of the Woody Ornamental department at RHS Garden, Wisley, advises:

• Always weed before mulching. Use a 3 inch layer of mulch and leave a 12 inch circle around any trees or shrubs as it can kill them.
•  When planting trees and bushes, dig a wide, shallow hole, untwist the roots and plant so that the top roots are level with or proud of the soil.
•  Prune dead and damaged wood from trees and bushes to encourage new growth and keep things looking clean and tidy.