The First Signs of Spring

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. Sir Winston Churchill

Wise words from a wise man. Gardening is not about rushing and trying to achieve too much too quickly. Rather it is about watching, learning and enjoying. If something goes wrong or dies (as it will at regular intervals!) seize the opportunity to change your plans and adapt. If you want a tidy, low maintenance, show or wild garden, achieve what you can by proceeding one step at a time. Watch your garden day by day, let it guide you and learn from what you see....

This week I have seen the first dozy Brimstone butterfly gorging on the sickly sweet hedera (ivy) flowers on the sheltered wall of a client's sunken garden, watched magpies scavenging for twigs in my back border to build nests and smelt the heady perfume of the sarcococca humilis (Winter Sweet) craftily placed by my front door.

Spring is finally on the way after what seems the longest winter ever. Weeks of at times torrential rain and heavy snows finally seem a distant memory. So with blue skies and weak sun, today I was out tidying my own garden. After toiling hard all week looking after my client's properties, I loved the relaxation of pottering around my own small space. Armed, of course, with plenty of coffee and chocolate chip cookies....

First job was tackling the lawn. The last cut was just before Christmas so the grass was obviously looking a little unloved. After removing my pup's toys and debris (more of her another time) it was just a case of setting the blades back to their summer height and steaming full ahead. A good rotary mower with a collection bag will act like a hoover - it not only sucks up cut grass but all the leaves, twigs and other unwanted debris. Cutting low so early will also stimulate the grass into growth, encouraging it to thicken and green up. I mowed the lawn twice, once up and once across to make sure it had a really good cut. A quick trim of the edges ensured the whole lawn was immaculate and presentable once more. ( After edging, I always like to follow round on my knees picking up the dropped clippings and chucking them into an old bucket - this way you can grab any emerging weeds in the beds at the same time).

All clippings were put into my trusty old composter ( in which I have noticed a cheeky mouse has spent the winter). With the lawn sorted, next job was removing all leaves from the hellebores which have just started to show their colours - the foliage was left on until this time as the leaves protect the blooms from the worst of the winter weather. The masses of purple crocuses I planted in the autumn finally opened today despite the local squirrels autumn feast! Why do they love crocus corms so much????

Dwarf tulips and daffodils are slowly emerging through the still cold soil, so along with the above mentioned plants, a small spadeful of well rotted compost around their base warms the soil by insulating it and helps to provide a little nourishment. I also split a few of the larger snowdrop clumps up today and spread them around the shadier, darker corners of the garden - they are wonderful for brightening up such places!

My roses were finally given their hard spring prune to remove snow damaged branches - with most roses, the harder you prune, the more flowers you get so prune away! To stop summer mildews and black spot, I applied a very weak Jeyes Fluid solution to the soil around their base to kill off any fungi spores ( black spot spores overwinter in the soil and re-infect the host by being splashed back onto the rose by spring rains...).

Boundary hedges were also trimmed and tidied, again to remove snow damaged branches and also prior to birds nesting. Talking of which, last week all my bird boxes were taken down, emptied, scrubbed and re-erected. Tits are already showing an interest.

With all long shoots on my wisterias cut back to 5 or 6 buds to promote flowering, dahlia tubers ordered, my chocolate eaten and the pup walked, all in all it has been a successful Sunday.

Just remember, whatever the weather, get dirty fingers and enjoy yourselves....

Marc x