LAWN
- Sow lawn seed when the ground is dry and rain is expected.
- Lawns need feeding in most cases at this time, especially those that grew poorly last year and have a lot of moss. Use a fork or bio fork to help aerate a compacted lawn.
- Mow when conditions are correct, ie ground not too wet, not too low a cut yet.
FLOWERS
- Planting of new perennial flowers and lifting and dividing of established plants can be carried out if necessary, but do not delay, and make sure the plants are watered until they re-establish fully.
- Spring bulbs can be lifted green in full leaf, just after flowering and moved to other areas.
- Gladiolus corms can be planted directly outdoors from the middle of the month.
- Lily bulbs can also be planted out or potted up for summer flowers.
- Hardy annual flowers such as calendula and candytuft can be sown now and will flower in late summer.
- Start off begonias and dahlias in pots of compost.
- Re-pot house plants that are pot-bound and falling over.
FRUIT, VEGETABLES AND HERBS
- Onion sets and shallots can be put in now too.
- Potatoes should be ready and if conditions are right plant.
- If new fruit trees and bushes plant now to benefit of the best growing part of the year, also coming to the end of Bare Root season.
- Apply some potash to fruit trees or a fruit fertiliser to improve growth and yield but not rich compost or manure when tends to promote soft growth and diseases. Fertiliser potassium is sometimes called “potash” .Potash ores are typically rich in potassium chloride , necessary for flower formation leading to fruit.
- Pruning of apple and pear trees and blackcurrant bushes should be completed in early March because the buds will be already opening.
- Weed around established herb plants to ensure they are weed-free as new growth begins.Weed your paths, etc and you will be glad later on.
Some summer flowering bulbs to consider
Some Spring Planting Bulbs (Summer Flowering)
Crinum flowers.
- Begonia Tubers in a container protected from frosts
- Dahlia Tubers in a container protected from frosts
- Crocosmia Corms choose something like Lucifer as the orange one I love is very invasive and a bit of a nuisance at times.
- Lily Bulbs -plant only if the soil is not too wet, lilies look great in pots.
- Zantedeschia (Calla Lilies ) again think of pots
- Crinum
- Eucomus
- Gladiolus Corms (Symbolising strength and moral integrity, gladioli also represent infatuation, with a bouquet conveying to a recipient that they pierce the giver’s heart with passion. Striking and colourful with towering stems, this August birth flower and 40th wedding anniversary flower evoke the drama of Roman gladiators)
- Canna
- Liatris spicata