Getting Ready for Spring
How great is Spring! I mean, that first month of Winter has us all excited about slow cooking comfort foods and drinking wine beside a fire but let’s face it, by the end, we’re well and truly ready for some warmer weather.
Spring is the time of growth and new beginnings; cool mornings followed by sunny afternoons and drenching showers. Tree lined streets in full bloom. A truly revitalising time that bumps us out of our winter gloom.
It’s also the time to be jealous of your neighbour’s incredible flowering cherry blossom tree...
Your landscape has been sitting dormant for a few months and probably is craving some attention to get it ready for entertaining again.
If you haven’t already done so, it’s time to give all your plants a good feed so they have everything they need for great spring growth. Throw out a slow release fertilizer around the base of all your plants or use something like Dynamic Lifter (smells bad but is great for your plants).
Give your flowering plants fertilisers with higher Potassium (K) content to encourage blooms. Richgro Sulphate of Potash is a good option here. Foliage plants prefer higher Nitrogen (N) fertilisers such as Richgro Organics Nitrogen Booster.
Mul-ching! It is the best thing you can do for your garden in Spring. Wait until your soil has had a good soaking then spread a good 50mm layer of mulch through your garden beds making sure you keep the base of the plants clear to avoid rot. Mint Design prefer to use an organic compost as a mulch as it gives something back to the soil rather than just keeping the moisture in. The organic nature of the compost means that it will break down more quickly than say, a pine bark mulch, but the benefits are bigger and your plants will thank you for it.
Get out the pressure washer. Probably not necessary every year but your paved areas will look better for a good hosing down particularly if there are areas in your landscape that don’t drain well and you get a build up of dust and water. If you have old paving use a hose on high pressure, or a scrubbing brush so you don’t blow out the grout in between pavers.
Get your garden tools, particularly your pruning shears and secateurs ready. Spring means growth and your hedges will need to be kept in order. There’s nothing worse than a hairdresser with blunt scissors so give your blades a quick sharpen ready for shaping.
Stock your firewood for firepit areas. Let your anal retentive side loose here and group your wood stacks into various sizes.
Check gas bottles on the BBQ and gas heaters. Top them up if they need refilling and replace any leaky bottles (we don't want anyone accidentally BBQing the family)!
A film of dust may just have settled on everything during the Winter months so dust off any outdoor cushions and wipe down all your horizontal surfaces.
Last but certainly not least, treat yourself to some new plants! It's the perfect time for planting so stock up on some summer flowering plants and veg seedlings.
Happy Spring!