March Gardening Guide

I’ve never really identified as one of those people who suffers from ‘Seasonal Affective Disorder’ (aka SAD) until the sun hits my face on a bright early spring morning and suddenly I feel like I’ve won the big payout on the 2p machines at the arcade. This was very much me yesterday. I spotted a huge Buff-tailed bumblebee having a wonderful time in my crocus’ covered from head to toe in pollen and I felt like I completely understood the phrase ‘full of the joys of spring’.

This month you’ll hopefully have been noticing more bumblebee activity in your garden. Bumblebees such as the Buff-tailed bumblebee that I spotted in my crocus’ are particularly large, especially if they’re a Queen, which I think mine was. They’re so large, in fact, that I can see them flying around outside from my office window. The only problem I have is that this window looks out over the street and I always wish I could hold up a big sign to tell the bees to come my way as I’ve got plenty of beneficial flowers for them in both my front and back gardens!

Buff-tailed Bumblebee and crocus

 So many front gardens are losing any form of growing space now, clearing room for a completely concreted driveway. Even households with one car are favouring covering the whole front space, way more ‘driveway’ than their car actually needs. Is it just due to trends? Do we prefer that look? Are we really too busy to possibly comprehend spending an hour once in a while to tend to a garden space or even a single planter?

These large expanses of concrete are causing more of an issue than just to the local wildlife (and our eyes) as there’s been a huge reduction in drainage over the years. It was only a few months ago that we had a huge downpour in a short space of time and it caused a literal river in the street from all that water being drained down onto the road. If there were more permeable surfaces, this deluge would have just been soaked up where it fell rather than pooling.

There are so many more innovative and attractive ways of designing your front garden space that can be low maintenance as well as attractive than to just concrete. Gravelled spaces are permeable surfaces and can be designed mixed with harder surfaces to create an interesting look as well as a practical solution. A well planted planting bed can be way less hassle than even a patch of grass if you’re open to the idea. My own front garden border takes a lot less maintenance than if it were grass needing to be cut every week or so in the summer months. I’ve only really weeded it a handful of times since I first planted it a couple of years ago.

I’ve recently had a new wall installed in the front garden, to replace the old damaged one that had been there for many years. I feel like it finally works with the style of my house, having selected a more vintage brick instead of the red brick that it had been. My current project with this is that I need to decide on three shrubs to plant that will gradually grow taller as they mature and obscure the view of the street.

I’ve been very conscious of the fact that my view out the front of my house has been dominated by road and cars and excessive concrete. I think one of the big factors of making a view from a window look relaxing and lovely is how much greenery you can see. I’ve gradually been working towards this goal of a green view from my front window by first installing a large planter underneath said window and planting tall growing plants. As it’s a shady spot, I have a Sarcococca Confusa for the winter flowers and scent, I have foxgloves for the late spring, and Thalictrum ‘Splendide White’ for a late summer tall and airy view to name just a few.

For the new shrubs my main characteristics are going to be evergreen, beneficial to wildlife, pretty and/or scented flowers and an overall modern cottage garden feel. A couple of options, so far, are Osmanthus Burkwoodii for the small dark green foliage and scented white flowers and a white variety of Ceanothus yet to be decided. As I continue to mull over my evergreen options, here are some activities to be getting on with in your garden in the coming weeks…

Get sowing those seeds

With the 3rd annual ‘Great Scartho Seed Swap’ coming up on Saturday 22nd March, it’s great timing for swapping seeds and sowing them when you get home. You can start sowing broad beans, peas, salads, kale, onions etc outside in the coming weeks. You can also start some indoors such as sweetcorn, climbing French beans and tomatoes. I’ve got my tomato seeds (mentioned in last months gardening guide) ready and waiting to get growing.

Start watering your pots

I have been guilty of assuming my planters have still been getting plenty of water from the rain – I was wrong! To ensure you’re getting the most out of your spring plants, you’ve got to keep them hydrated so start checking and watering when required.

Remove last years sedum flowers

Your sedum flower heads have done a beautiful job of providing structure in your garden throughout the winter and now is about time to trim them off, making space for all the new growth coming through.

Prune rambling roses

Rambling roses are the roses that do just that, ramble. They can seem to get a little out of hand if you don’t trim them. Cut at an angle to ensure water runs off the cut spot to reduce the chance of rot. Don’t prune by more than a third as you don’t want to restrict your flowers this year.

Look after your frogs

If you have a pond in your garden or nearby, keep an eye out for your local frogs. They’re getting ready to get jiggy with it, so ensure the water levels in your pond don’t fall. If you do need to top your pond up, preferably use rain water from a water butt or such.

If you find yourself in the Grimsby area on Saturday 22nd March, please pop by the 3rd annual  ‘The Great Scartho Seed Swap’ event in Scartho Community Gardens, I’d love to see you there.