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General

  • Buy and plant out seeds and plants from:
      Crocus
      Wilko Stores
      Thompson & Morgan
      See all plants, tools and accessories at Home amd Garden Shop
     
  • Buy and prepare raised beds for growing vegetables and flowers from Crocus
     
  • Continue to plant vegetables directly into the ground and under glass for a succession of crops.
     
  • Prune tender climbers and wall shrubs before leaves open fully.
     
  • Prune spring-flowering shrubs over three years old as they finish flowering.
     
  • Cut back hardy fuchsias to just above soil level as strong new basal growth appears.
     
  • Sow seeds of tender bedding plants in a heated propagator or in trays on a warm windowsill.
     
  • Plant perennial herbs such as marjoram, mint, rosemary and sage.
     
  • Lift and divide congested clumps of perennials.
     
  • Plant out bulbs grown for indoor use which have finished flowering.
     
  • Mow the lawn weekly or more often if necessary; frequent mowing encourages dense growth.
     
  • Remove winter protection from containers when the risk of hard frost has gone, and top-dress or replant overgrown or pot-bound plants adding a slow-release fertiliser.
     
  • Apply a spring fertiliser to established lawns once they are actively growing and cut grass when it is about 8 cm (3 in) high.
     
  • Sow seeds of tomatoes in a heated propagator or on a warm windowsill to grow on outdoors when all danger of frost is over.
     
  • Mulch beds and borders while the soil is moist to reduce the need for watering and to keep down weeds.
     
  • Sow green manures - phacelia, buckwheat, red clover, lupins, mustard, winter tares and trefoil.

    Greenhouse

    • Sow seeds:-
    • peas and beans
    • tomatoes
    • sweetcorn, marrows, squashes and cucumbers.
    • bedding plants such as African marigolds, petunias, lobelia and antirrhinums.
    • begonias and pelargoniums.
    • quick-growing perennials.
       
  • Remove the insulation from the greenhouse.
     
  • Ventilate cold frames and the greenhouse whenever possible to encourage sturdy plant growth.
     
  • Sow hardy annuals in a Cold Frame or unheated greenhouse.
     
  • Make sure pots and seed trays with plants and seedlings in the greenhouse do not dry out.

    Vegetables

  • Sow broad beans, french beans, beetroot, leafbeet, broccoli, leeks, sea kale, peas, lettuce, cabbage, spinach, parsley, carrots, turnips, parsnips, radishes and spring onions.
     
  • Fit collars around the stems of young cabbages, cauliflowers and Brussel sprouts to deter cabbage root fly.
     
  • Earth up early potatoes.
     
  • Plant asparagus, Jerusalem artichokes, onion sets and garlic.

    Fruit

  • Finish pruning and planting fruit bushes such as autumn-fruiting raspberries.
     
  • Graft apples and pears.
     
  • Continue greasebands until end of the month.
     
  • Cover ground under pear trees with carpet mulch to prevent pear midges.
     
  • If frosty, protect blossom with sacks or fleece.
     
  • Inspect raspberry canes for signs of raspberry moth and other pests and diseases.
     
  • Prune plum trees once they have started growing.

    Flowers

  • Start to sow hardy annuals directly into their flowering position.
     
  • Plant summer-flowering bulbs such as acidanthera and tigridia.
     
  • Apply rose fertiliser, gently hoeing it in around the plants.
     
  • Grow begonias from tubers
     
  • Grow and propagate dahlias from cuttings
     
  • Create a spring arrangement
     
  • Prune roses removing decaying old and thin, spindly wood.
     
  • Take chrysanthemum cuttings.
     
  • Remove shoots that have no live buds from summer-flowering clematis and cut back late-flowering clematis hard.
     
  • Deadhead daffodils as they fade.
     
  • Sow sweet peas directly into their flowering position.

    Ponds

  • Ensure the surface of ponds are kept clean by removing floating weeds and any slime algae.
     
  • Clean out the pond if necessary.
     
  • If present scoop out and collect mats of tiny-leaved duck weed and twirl hair-like blanket weed from the surface with a stick or garden cane.
     
  • Put them in a heap on the edge of the pond overnight so any aquatic creatures can crawl back into the water. The next day add the heap to the compost heap.
     
  • Put new aquatic plants in the pond either in the soil at the bottom or using special aquatic baskets.
     
  • Oxygenate the pond with plants like Mash marigolds Palustris.
     

    Spring Books
    Spring Plants on eBay

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    (c) Compiled by B V & T M Wood.