Released On 24th Feb 2025
Is Your Garden Ready For Spring?
Let’s face it, England at this time of year is, brrrr, cold! But towards the end of February, something amazing happens. The weather starts to warm up (very slowly!) and your garden begins to come out of hibernation. Which means it’s time to get stuck in if you want your garden to be a stunning riot of colour come Spring! Here are the main things you need to be doing now, and why.
Prep Beds and Borders
While you might think that weeds take a break over the cold months, you’d be mistaken! Weeds use these harsh winters to keep on growing without the competition of other plants, or having to fight with you about being pulled up. So now is the time to go through your garden and pull out any weeds you may see. Dandelions and other weeds with long roots can be particularly troublesome, so make sure you get them all!
This is also a perfect opportunity to revive those garden beds and borders. Winter can suck a lot of the moisture and nutrients from the soil, so forking them over and topping them up with fresh mulch means your plants will have the best chances for success.
Plant For Food
If you use your garden to grow tasty treats as well as flowers, then now is the time for action. One of the best things to plant now is raspberries - new raspberry canes planted now will ensure a bumper harvest of juicy berries by summer. Plant them in a sunny or partly shady spot in some well-drained soil. Make sure you check which variety you’re planting, as some can take a few seasons to mature fully. But some, like long-cane raspberries, will give you plenty of big, bright fruits this year. Raspberries are best planted against a wall or fence for support, or with support wires attached to stakes. You’ll want to dig a 30cm wide by 8cm deep hole and spread out the roots. Cover it well and water well. Canes should be planted around 60 cm apart for best growth, or you can plant several in a big pot and draw the tops of the canes together in the shape of a wigwam!
On the veggie side of things, You’ll want to sow the seeds of tomatoes, chillis, sweet peppers and aubergines now, using a propagator or a good old-fashioned windowsill to keep them safe until the frosts pass. If you have a sheltered garden, you can also plant shallots and pea seeds (though you should cover these with a cloche to protect them from any last-minute frosts).
Don’t Forget the Flowers
If you have any ornamental grasses that have been left standing over winter, it’s time to cut them down before fresh shoots start to appear. You won’t have a bare patch for long, and the grasses will come back all the healthier. Prune winter-blooming shrubs (like mahonia, winter jasmine and heathers) once they’ve finished flowering, and cut back wisteria side-shoots to just three buds from the base to encourage flowering in spring.
You should also take this chance to cut back any ivy, creepers or climbers that have outgrown their space before the birds start nesting, as this will make things a lot easier for them and you! If you have congested clumps of perennials or deciduous shrubs growing in the wrong place, you can divide them up and replant so that they can grow properly. Finally, start potting up containers with hardy spring bedding, like primroses, wallflowers and forget-me-nots so that they can start growing.
At CMA Garden Design, it’s our job to know gardens. We spend most of our time designing and maintaining gardens of all sizes, styles and budgets, making sure they look their best all year round. We follow a calendar approach to garden maintenance, making sure we’re not just tackling the right-now jobs, but being proactive to get ahead of the weather. If you’d like to know more about what garden jobs you should be doing and when, just get in touch with our team today.
