The nursery team at The Arium provides expert advice on how to get your garden ready for the summer months.
If like us, you’re looking forward to relaxing and enjoying your garden this summer, the lighter evenings provide the ideal opportunity to spend a few hours preparing! April is the perfect time to plant summer bulbs and plants as the soil begins to warm up, and what you plant now will fill your garden with a spectacular array of colour throughout the summer.
But before you plan your planting, you should tend to a few jobs first. Your spring bulbs will be coming to an end, so deadhead these first, making sure to leave the foliage to die back naturally. This task can take six to eight weeks but will ensure the plant’s energy goes back into the bulb and will mean more flowers for next year.
Take the opportunity to fill up any gaps in your borders with bulbs in pots, which helps to create beautiful flowers that will continue to bloom for years. It’s a good idea to add plant markers to remind you where your spring bulbs are when they have died back.
To prepare borders for summer, it is helpful to dig in a layer of compost or well-rotted manure. You can also work in a general-purpose fertiliser, such as pelleted chicken manure or fish, blood, and bone, which will add nutrients to the soil and improve soil structure. Don’t forget to top up your containers, too!
If you haven’t done so already, cut back any dead foliage on perennials, such as phlox, rudbeckia, and hosta, to make way for the new season’s growth. These plants will last for years, so why not treat yourself to some hardy perennials in flower and fill up those empty spaces? It’s also time to remove any winter pansies.
Take a moment to look at your trees and shrubs, which form the main structure of your garden and provide year-round colour and interest. Now is the chance to fill the larger gaps in your garden; the classic spring-flowering camellia is an evergreen with spectacular flowers that can be grown in the border or in a container, whilst euonymus provides an ideal background for summer flowers with its colourful, variegated foliage.
Everyone loves to boast about their lawn, so make sure you give yours a bit of love this spring. Mow it regularly, lowering the mower blades towards the end of the month, and recut lawn edges to straighten them up. If moss and weeds are a problem, you can apply a specialist lawn weed and repair any bare patches with lawn repair grass seed, or if necessary, lay down a new turf.
With your spring bulbs, perennials, and shrubs dealt with, and the lawn refreshed with all borders prepared, you are now ready to create your summer backdrop. Summer favourites, such as allium, freesia, and gladioli are perfect for borders, as well as providing a kaleidoscope of colour. They also naturalise easily, delivering bigger and better displays for years to come! Look for varieties which bloom from early to late summer and plant a selection to ensure colour throughout the season. Make sure to always follow the instructions on the packaging.
Most bulbs should be planted two or three times its depth and approximately two to three bulb widths apart but check before you plant.
Gladioli and alliums look stunning at the back of the border. Their elegant, tall stems and strong, vibrant colours are fabulous and will form clumps over time. Freesias are usually at home in the border or can also make a beautiful display in a container. Both gladioli and freesia are also amazing as cut flowers and will add a splash of summer colour to the inside of you home.
Summer bulbs are fantastic for adding to containers to brighten up your patio or balcony. We have a huge selection of outdoor containers in a range of materials to combine with summer bedding plants. Our range will be in store by mid-April, so make sure you leave space for them! Before you know it, summer will be here, and you’ll be able to sit back, relax, and admire your handiwork.
The Arium, Thorner Lane, Leeds LS14 3FB, is open Monday to Saturday 9am to 4pm and Sunday 10am to 4pm.
Theariumleeds.co.uk
