Spring is the time when many of the beautiful spring flowering perennials begin to flower, and you start to see everything bounce back to life in the garden.
Now is the perfect time to get back outside and do some serious gardening. Mow the lawn and get the garden ready for the coming months to ensure a long, healthy growing season.
Refresh and revamp your garden timber
- Check the condition of all your garden fences, posts, structures and stores, securing any loose joints and replacing weakened or broken items, damaged over the winter.
- Wooden fences are particularly susceptible to damage from wind and wet weather, so do a thorough check, replacing and repairing any necessary fencing. For helpful advice on fencing, take a look at Forest’s new videos on choosing the right fence panel at http://www.forestgarden.co.uk/forest_tv.asp
- Top off a plain, tired looking fence with a trellis top to add some interest and encourage your climbers.
- Prepare for a colourful cascade of climbers this summer by adding trellis panels to your garden, this can also be used as an effective screen to mask a dull or unsightly area.
- Brighten up your borders with some timber edging. Edging keeps soil, gravel and bark tidy and adds a neat structure to a lawn.
Gardening Tips
- Lightly mulch beds and borders to keep down weeds and seal in moisture – this will be a godsend in the long run!
- Fertilise beds, borders and fruit trees, also checking for the first signs of bugs and treating accordingly. An organic alternative is to attract unwanted bug-eating insects, such as ladybirds, into your garden by sowing some wild flower seeds.
- Now is a good time to prune bushes and shrubs before the growing season really starts.
- Plant summer flowering bulbs. For example, lilies and early spring flowers such as pansies, snapdragons and dianthus.
- Weed your lawn, reseed if necessary and cut regularly. The first cut should be a light one as the lawn will be delicate after the winter.
- Sow hardy annuals and vegetables outside. Now’s the time to plant up raised beds and large planters with vegetables such as, broad beans, cabbages, carrots, celery, onions, parsnips and turnips. If you’ve saved seeds and bulbs over the winter, now is the time to sow the hardier ones.
- Spring is also a great time to start composting – if you don’t already of course!
- Tools and containers will need to be checked to ensure they are in good shape for the coming season.
Pull out box – Small Storage Solutions
Another great way to get your garden in shape is to sort out any items that are taking up too much space in the garage or summerhouse that could be moved to another, handier location. Forest offers a range of eight unique and useful small storage solutions, providing the perfect home for garden tools and equipment, lawn mowers, furniture and bikes, and are all designed to optimise even the smallest of spaces.
For example, look out for Forest’s Timber Bike Store, RRP £224.99, which can hold two bikes, helmets, pumps and other accessories. It will not only free up space but also keep your items secure, dry and organised. To see the Timber Bike Store in action, take a look at the video on Forest’s YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viUnugdzHXE&spfreload=10
The Pent Tool Store, RRP £174.99, is another handy small storage solution that features room for all the usual garden tools as well as a handy shelf for fertiliser, pots and other small items. Placing next to the vegetable garden will save time and effort walking back to the garage or shed.
Both products are lockable to prevent theft and feature overlap cladding and black felt roofs.
For more information, interview or images please contact:
Kimberley Hornby, Forest PR Team, Whitefoot PR
Tel: 01858 681122 Email: kimberley@whitefootpr.co.uk