Garden Tasks For Spring

Trying to keep on top of weed growth now should be a priority. In an ideal world, if you can try to set yourself up a weeding and mulching program this will be a good way to start.

It can be very overwhelming to look at your garden as one total entity that needs to be weeded.

The best way to view your garden is to break your garden down into sections and try to maintain it in these sections.

Weed one area at a time and then aim to spread mulch over the top of where you have weeded.

Mulch will help to suppress the continual weed growth as well as helping retain moisture.

Prior to mulching you could spread some organic pelletised fertiliser such as Rooster Booster/Organic Life or Dynamic Lifter to your plants. This will need to be watered in well.

To further suppress the weeds you could lay down a layer of newspaper prior to mulching.

The newspaper layer should be about 5 – 7 sheets thick and you should only use the traditional newspaper not the paper with the glossy finish.

Water the newspaper layer in well and then spread the mulch on top. The mulch will also need to be watered in well.

This combination will set you up for success in the Summer months.

You may need to top up mulch through summer but overall weed growth should be slowed down and your plants will be grateful to have that extra layer of insulation on the hot days.

Ornamental grasses such as Miscanthus, Calamagrostis and Panicum species will have dead seed heads.

These seed heads along with the foliage should be cut back to ground level. Now is also the time to lift and divide these grasses.

Make sure your irrigation system is all working.

I try to get into the habit of running ours once a week for a short time just to ensure it is working okay before the hot weather arrives later in the year.

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• Topics:

• Gardening