With spring certainly going to be early this year, plant some instant colour to fill in the gaps and sort out the lemon tree.
With a few more steps, spring will be knocking at your garden’s door.
Here’s a quick checklist of what you should be doing in your garden to bring on spring.
Six things you should be doing in your garden right now:
Plant some colour
Get the whole family into getting the garden spring ready. One might think it’s too late to plant some colour in the garden. The winter bedding plants might be full of flowers right now, but the spring flowers are only just getting started. Planted now, spring colour will last till the end of October, giving your garden a boost of colour just when it looks a bit drab.
Keep them fed with Multifeed Flowergro added to the water once a week and take off the deadheads to stimulate more flowers. Plant Primroses, Pansies, Violas as well as the dainty white Chrysanthemum and fragrant Alyssum to herald the coming spring.
Feed your lemon tree
Everyone loves a lemon tree in the garden to give an almost endless supply of lemons to the kitchen. Lemon trees will come into flower soon and then flush new foliage. By feeding now your tree will have the nutrients it needs ready as soon as the weather changes, giving you the best chance of a good crop and a healthy tree.
As soon as the new leaves start apply a systemic insecticide, to prevent the bumps on the leaves. Pick off all the fruit on your tree now, feed, water and let dry out till the leaves start to flush.
Mulch the garden
Plant some more colour is number one on our list. One of the best ways to be water wise in your garden is to mulch the beds. Use the leaves and cuttings from the pruning to mulch the garden beds. One cannot over-emphasise the value of mulch to the garden especially when you are considering the environment. Mulch regulates the soil temperature, retains moisture and encourages earthworm activity naturally in the garden. Using your own garden waste is the first step in recycling and improves your organic gardening point.
Check out the irrigation
As soon as the temperatures start to rise so too will your watering levels. Check your irrigation now to see what parts need updating and which sprayers have blocked through winter. Especially after pruning there always seems to be some sprayers damaged or moved while you are in the beds doing a clean-up. If you do it now it will not be a rush when it gets warmer and then suddenly you cannot water because a pipe miraculously got a hole in it.
Indoor plant maintenance
After the winter, your indoor plants will also need to be refreshed. On a warm day place them in the bath or on the patio and rinse the leaves down to remove all the winter dust so that they can breathe easier. Top up with a handful of potting soil and check for any signs of scale or mealy bug and spray them with Oleum. This will not only get rid of the bugs but it will also act as a leaf-shine leaving them all glossy and looking fresh. Make sure that when you feed them the water runs out the bottom of the pot. Once they have dried off return to the rooms where they stand all ready for summer. Don’t stand them outside in the sun as they will die from sunburn even in winter.
Sort out your containers
The BioGanic range will bounce back your garden. The container plants also need a boost this time of the year. Remove the top layer of soil and add a couple of handfuls of compost to top them back up. A handful of BioGanic and a good watering till the water runs out the bottom of the pot will get them started.
If you have pots of bedding plants feed them with Multifeed Flowergro every week till it’s time to take them out. If you are changing them now for spring, remove half the soil and replace with some fresh potting soil.
Information provided by Eckards Garden Pavilion.
