As we slowly feel the grips of winter releasing and the temperature starting to rise, we know spring is at our doorstep. For the keen gardener this is an exciting time of year to see your creations flourish. Like anything in life maintenance is a must, so work needs to be done to get the most out of your garden. Charlie goes through a check list of garden maintenance jobs that will give your garden the spring it needs, as well as installing a couple of new plant varieties that are great for the warmer months.
WATCH: Charlie’s essential spring maintenance jobs
The revival of your winter garden doesn’t happen by itself. Here are four things you can do on your next free weekend that will give you both a lush green lawn and a garden full of colour in an energetic spring, and lead you into the languid days of summer.
Graham Ross’s top 4 spring gardening jobs
1. Pruning
Evergreen summer-flowering shrubs such as abelia, hibiscus and gardenia often take a battering in winter. Branches can be broken and leaves eaten. Plus, with a lower, weaker, winter sun casting minimal light in a damp environment, fungal problems may have emerged. To help encourage fresh new spring growth, remove any broken stems and damaged leaves, then prune other branches or stems to allow air to freely circulate.
2. Weed and feed lawns
Weeds are ugly opportunists that will fill any bald patch in your lawn. They will also steal nutrients from grass roots, with offenders including lawn-smothering dandelions, clover, thistles and the summer bane of our lives – and those of our dogs – bindii.
Additionally, your lawn will require a pick-me-up after its winter snooze. So weed and feed it in one go with an integrated product you can attach to your hose. Just make sure you choose the right one for the type of lawn you have. Buffalo, kikuyu, fescue and couch all need different products!
3. Plant summer bulbs
All of those spring-flowering bulbs you planted in autumn, which are now exploding with joyous colour, will soon be exhausted, so look to plant summer bulbs now.
These bulbs offer big surprises in small packages that burst into blooms for most of the season. Go for hardy, sun-loving Asiatic lilies (Lilium sp) or voluptuous naked ladies (Amaryllis sp). There’s such a wonderful range of colours to pick from you’ll be conflicted.
Bulb tip
When picking blooms, leave at least a third of the stem on the bulb so it can produce flowers next season.
4. Pot spring bloomers
Finally, after all that hard work, indulge in instant gratification and buy annual spring bloomers from your nursery to put in pots or a bed. Not only do you save yourself the trouble of nurturing them from seeds, you can also enjoy their prettiness until the long bloomers of summer take over. You can even double up.
For an instant carpet of colour, plant your summer-flowering bulbs in pots and, while you’re waiting for them to emerge, enjoy the vibrant spring sensations of pansies, native daisies, violas, polyanthus, stock and the drippingly gorgeous waterhyssop (Bacopa sp).
WATCH: Graham’s top 4 spring gardening jobs to do now
You might also like:
How to make beautiful flower pots at home
What to plant in September in Australia
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