The air is warming up & there’s lots to do in the garden. Your spare time is precious and after tending to the veggie garden, watering the potted plants & pulling those few persistent weeds,
there’s always plenty of other little jobs to fill a spring afternoon.
Getting started.
Many of the following suggested jobs could be left till next spring if time doesn’t allow or even into late Spring/early Summer, so plan to suit your available time. Gardening should be relaxing & rewarding and yes some shrubs will flower better when trimmed back at this time of year but it’s not a case of life or death. Prioritize and if there’s one job that just has to be done it’s mulch, mulch, mulch!
Now is the time to trim all your shrubs back apart from a few spring flowering shrubs like Tibouchina. Really you should wait until flowering has finished but in my garden things have to happen when there is time even at the sacrifice of flowering. You will need to work that one out for yourself, but gardening needs to fit into our busy lives and to date, my garden hasn’t suffered a bit for going against the rules.
Depending on how much you achieved before the Winter set in will depend on how hard you need to trim now. Trimming helps maintain the size of your plants but it also encourages them to fill out, providing more opportunity for flowers. Always remember never trim more than 1/3 of your shrub at any one time. Once the plant has shown it’s recovered (by shooting), you can then take more if needed.Identify any areas within your garden where a plant may have died or maybe after you have trimmed you can see where another plant may work well. Ezyplant has compiled a large listing of plants available on the Hints N Tips page. All these plants are suitable for the subtropics and will work well in your garden. Take a look for some ideas on what you might like to include, ranging from decorative grasses right though to feature plants.
With the heat & humidity increasing, everything will start growing including the weeds. If they’ve taken off over the winter months, then whip them into shape now and then stay on top of the seed
cycle. Removing weeds before they have the chance to flower and set seed will alleviate them spreading, making your job a lot easier!
Once you’ve trimmed and weeded then it’s time to mulch and you will find plenty of information regarding mulching on the Ezyplant website and the many benefits it brings to your garden. We are mulch crazy because we know how important it is for your soil life and your plants. A fast decomposing mulch is essential and then add a blanket of chip or bark to provide that weed suppressing buffer. Money invested here will pay dividends and done properly, will not need to be addressed again for a couple of years. (Weather depending.)
If you only have a couple of hours to give then fertilizing your potted plants is a good job done. Re-potting may be necessary too in some cases & we always recommend you use a good quality, premium potting mix. The extra money spent on a good potting mix will be seen in the health of your plants & given most premium potting mixes include a water crystal, plants thrive with constant available moisture around their roots and you don’t need to water as much!
There is always something to do in the garden and if you feel you are on top of everything then just sit back and enjoy your garden. In fact the inclusion of a garden bench or sitting area of some description could well be your next “Thing to do”. Being able to sit in your garden is a must, providing a relaxing space which has not only been proven to increase your sense of well being but also your general health overall.
Happy gardening and remember to “Like” us on Facebook as we are always sharing gardening info, recipes and lots more that may interest you.
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