Spring looks different depending on where you are. Your region may be cloaked in a curtain of drizzle, but when the sun is shining, it\u2019s hard for gardeners to stay inside and not make inroads long before the May 24 weekend (generally accepted as a frost safe date!). Rosie Daykin (pictured) lavishes her West Coast beds with care from early spring, growing most of her veggies from seed \u2014 and the results speak for themselves. Here are some things you can do now to prep your gardens for the most beautiful, productive summer ever.<\/p>\n
1. Feed Your Soil<\/strong> 2. Take Cover<\/strong> 3. Start Seeds<\/strong> 4. Harden Off Seedlings<\/strong> 5. Clean Up Beds<\/strong> 6. Weed<\/strong> 7. Prune<\/strong> (Judiciously!) 8. Plant Bare-Root Plants<\/strong> 9. Divide<\/strong> 10. Add Some Colour<\/strong>
\nAdding a thick layer of compost or mulch to your garden beds has a big range of benefits. It protects the soil from compaction, helps suppress weeds, retains moisture, releases nutrients, and improves the soil as it breaks down.<\/p>\n
\nGet the jump on unpredictable weather and protect tender emerging buds or foliage. Use professional row covers, or old sheets and towels can act as frost cloths. Avoid plastic, when the material comes into contact with newly emerging buds and foliage, it magnifies the cold\u2019s effect.<\/p>\n
\nSometimes Rosie chooses seeds just because she likes their name, for example: Blushed Butter Oak lettuce. Create a spreadsheet of what seeds to start, arranged by date, or organize packets week-by-week in an accordion file or recipe-card box. You can start seeds for veggies like eggplants, peppers and tomatoes indoors six weeks before the last frost date in your area (here is a calculator that will let you know what\u2019s the date for your region). If you are sowing seeds directly outside, plants like peas, lettuce, carrots and radishes can be planted before the frost date, while zucchini and cucumber need to be planted afterwards The seed packet will tell you when to plant based frost dates, soil temperature or plant hardiness zones.<\/p>\n
\nSeedlings that have been grown in cushy controlled conditions indoors will need time to adapt to the outdoors. Whether growing a vegetable, herb, or flower, seedlings need to be acclimated to the outdoors gradually. Start by putting them outside for an hour, and build it up by an extra hour each next day until they can withstand a full day of sun.<\/p>\n
\nGently remove matted leaves to unearth early spring ornamentals first, like tender emerging spring bulbs. Trim battered leaves from semi-evergreen perennials (which shed their foliage for a very short time in late winter) such as hellebores, heuchera and ornamental grasses. If you have a compost pile, turning it over will help it break down faster.<\/p>\n
\nNip things at the bud: getting rid of weeds will stop them from taking hold of beds when your perennials and annuals start to take off. Dig roots out by hand with a garden fork or trowel, or try a stand-up weed pulling tool for large areas (it works by inserting the claw around the weed, and stepping on it to remove the roots). Make sure not to pile weeds on a compost heap where they will happily take root again.<\/p>\n
\nWait until the risk of frost has passed before starting to cut back plants, because hard frosts penetrate the fresh cuts and can cause damage. To gently shape the shrub, remove dead, diseased, damaged stems, weak branches, and stems going in unwanted directions or crossing other branches.
\nSummer-flowering shrubs like butterfly bush (Buddleja davidii), Russian Sage, hardy fuchsia, spirea, and potentilla, should be trimmed in spring. Prune vines such as wisteria, clematis and climbing roses. Cut raspberries canes that have borne fruit, and any that are thinner than a pencil, and shorten the remaining young canes by at least a foot.
\nTo trim back ornamental grasses like miscanthus, fountain grass, and feather reed grass, gather the stems and foliage in a clump and cut back to around 6-12 inches from the ground. Do this after the risk of frost, but before the new shoots emerge from the base.
\nPrune shrubs that bloom on old wood (like Hydrangea macrophylla or Big Leaf hydrangea, which have big, ball-shaped mopheads) or lace cap florets after they have finished blooming. Similarly, wait until spring flowering shrubs like lilacs, forsythia, and weigelia have bloomed before pruning or you will remove the flower buds. You can cut back paniculata hydrangeas such as Limelight, climbing hydrangeas and Hydrangea \u2018Annabelle\u2019 because they bloom on new wood.<\/p>\n
\n\u2018Bare-root\u2019 plants are generally bought online, or by mail order, and have no soil around their roots. Common examples include fruit trees (apple, pear, cherry), roses, shrubs (willow, yew, viburnum), and deciduous hedging. Once the soil is workable, soak roots in water for 1\u20136 hours, then plant immediately in a wide hole with a soil mound, ensuring the crown rests just below the surface. Keep roots moist, prune damaged roots, spread them over the mound, and water thoroughly to eliminate air pockets.<\/p>\n
\nMost perennials grow by sending up new stems from their underground parts and form clumps that can die back in the centre, producing a \u201cdoughnut\u201d effect. Perennials that bloom after mid-June are usually divided in early spring (late April or early May), as soon as a couple of inches of growth are showing. Chose a day that is cool and the ground is moist so the roots don\u2019t dry out quickly, and make sure the plant is well watered before you begin.
\nTo divide a clump-forming plant, lift the whole plant by digging up as much of the root ball as possible then shake or tease off the soil from the roots to reveal the roots and crown.<\/p>\n
\nCraving instant coluor? Maybe your bulbs are slow to show, so hit the garden centres for pots of pansies or violas for spring planters. You can augment them with flowering branches like forsythia or pussy willow. It\u2019s a good idea to wait until your area\u2019s last frost date to plant as most annual flowers need the soil to warm up a bit before planting, but you can opt for safe, cool-weather loving plants like pansies, nemesia, osteospermum daisies, sweet alyssum, lobelia and Supertunia petunias.<\/p>\n