Should get back into the garden I suppose?!

So as a professional gardener, who specialises in horticulture and garden maintenance, it may surprise you to know that I have barely looked at my back garden in the last 8 weeks. I have lots of good reasons for this, and anyone living in Britton can attest that the weather has not been conducive to being outside.

However with February just around the corner, and hopefully the worst of the weather behind us, it is time to start planning ahead for the year. I was going to make a list of garden requirements for this coming month, but that sounded rather dull. So I decided to share what I am going to do in my own small back garden at home.

My home gardening practices are quite different to how I would work on a clients garden professionally. For starters; my grass is thick and wet and a little unruly to say the least. I am not going to cut it! As I am going to be turning over the beds making a mess, I will embrace the chaos and spread some of the soil from the beds onto the grass. Using it as a top dressing to try and even out any lumps and bumps made playing on it with the little ones last year. A light seeding and a quick rake through will have it back to being a football pitch in no time.

Next is to prune the roses and cut back all of the shrubs, removing any old stems from the herbaceous perennials. Prune the winter flowering shrubs- I have a few winter heathers.

Lastly, I use organic fertilisers and soil to replenish the beds, turning it in and firming down the smaller trees that may have lifted in the frost. Oh and top up the bird feeder of course. All of my cuttings go into the compost and the garden is transformed, a grass cut in 2-3 weeks to take the top of and mulch ready for the spring growth.

Hope that this was somewhat insightful and a quick and easy option to get your garden back on track. Any questions or suggestions just leave a comment. Happy Gardening!

Danial Hall