April 24th, 2020 by Sarah Miles

Never before have so many people spent so much time at home. If you’re used to being out at work, or just out busy doing things, you may well be wondering how to fill all those hours productively. Social distancing may not have been anyone’s choice but you can do things to turn a difficult situation into an opportunity to really spend the time on your home that you’ve never really been able to before. One of the best places to start is your garden.

One silver lining in this whole scenario is the timing; spring is the perfect time to do jobs in the garden so that it will be looking lovely for the summer. If we all have to stay at home then having a nice garden to spend time in will really save us from looking at the same four walls inside and enable us to get some fresh air and vitamin D. You don’t even need to be a proficient gardener to be able to do a few basic spring jobs that will get your garden summer-ready. All of the products mentioned in this article are available to order online so you don’t need to worry about having to get out and buy them from a shop.

1. Tend to the grass

If you have a lawn, it’s no doubt looking a bit sorry for itself having endured the winter. Spring is a great time for tending to it. If you have a rake, you can start by scarifying the grass. This basically means removing all the dead organic matter from the roots of the grass. Once you have done this, you should mow the grass to around 2.4-4cm high. Then you can get feeding it. A slow-release lawn feed such as Pro-Kleen Grass Green provides nitrogen to get the grass looking nice and green and you can add Pro-Kleen Iron Sulphate to create a healthy vibrant lawn.

Do you have artificial grass? This may be much lower maintenance than real grass but it will still benefit from a bit of TLC. Sweep away all the loose leaves and garden debris and then give it a good clean with something like this artificial grass cleaner. It’s designed for cleaning things like pet urine from artificial grass but even if you don’t have a pet yourself, it will remove any ‘gifts’ from neighbouring cats that you may not be aware of.

2. Clean your paths and patios

The hard surfaces of your garden are no doubt also looking a bit sorry after the winter. Green mould and algae may have formed on your patio and pathways in all the wet weather we’ve had and they’re no doubt looking generally a bit grubby. These things can easily be cleaned away using a patio cleaner such as this one from Pro-Kleen. If it’s a long time since it’s been cleaned consider a super strength cleaner like the Ultima Plus XP. This one can also be used on decking, sheds and brick so a good all-round product.

3. Clear the weeds

The scourge of any garden. Weeds can pop up anywhere; in your borders, in the lawn and in between paving stones and bricks. They’re not only unsightly, but they can also strangle the roots of your plants too. We’d like to say that there is some miracle cure that will prevent weeds coming back but unfortunately it is a gardener’s lot to have to keep on top of them. You can choose to just pull them out or use a weed killer but if you do use a weed killer, double-check that it won’t kill bees as bees are really important for our gardens. There are even recipes for making your own weed killer from household products such as vinegar and washing up liquid.

4. Prepare your borders

The most colourful and interesting part of your garden is any planting areas you have. They do need a little bit of work but the rewards will be worth it. Firstly, remove any weeds and dead leaves. Be careful not to pull up any plant that looks like it may have died off but as it could come back in the spring. Check for signs of buds and perhaps look up the specific type of plant to see if and when it’s likely to flower again. Then dig over the soil ready for planting. Spring is a good time to add some plant food to the soil to enrich it with nutrients ready for your bulbs and seedlings.

If you are confident that we’re not due any further frosts (check the weather forecasts) then you can remove the dead flower heads from plants, if you didn’t do it in the autumn. You’ll soon see them start to bud up, especially plants like hydrangeas.

5. Spring planting

You can now start to think about new planting for the season. As mentioned in the previous section, frost really is the enemy so don’t plant anything new until you’re pretty confident we’re not likely to get any more cold snaps. Perhaps get on with the cleaning and prepping first and then look to your planting in the coming weeks. Lilies, daffodils, and tulips can all be planted in March and April, providing you with some lovely early colour. You may also want to dabble with planting some veg. You don’t need a lot of space; you can even start with a few buckets for potatoes!

If you do already have some shoots starting to peek out of the soil, you might want to just protect them from slugs and snails. You can buy pellets but if you have pets you may want to use something organic like crushed eggshells which will eventually just break down into the soil.

Use your time well

You may be a reluctant gardener but one of the biggest barriers to gardening is the time it can take. Many of us now have an abundance of that on our hands and a nice garden presents us with extra space to occupy over this period of enforced lockdown so why not roll your sleeves up and create something lovely?