As we enter the new year, many gardeners will be eager to get started on a new season of gardening, and thinking about what tasks they can start tackling in their gardens. Here are our suggestions for five ways you can get stuck into your garden in January.
Gardening Tips
National Tree Week starts this month, encouraging gardeners to plant a tree and keep our country lush and fruitful. November is the perfect time of year to plant fruit trees, giving them time to get bedded in for the Winter followed by a full Spring season of growth. If you’ve never planted a fruit tree before, why not join the effort this year and learn that no fruit tastes better than the ones you’ve grown yourself. Here are our top picks to get you started.
Forget about neat rows and perfect plots, try ornamental vegetable gardening this year to add colour and interest to your garden. This can really make cooking for friends, family and kids a fun and environmentally friendly outdoor activity – ingredients picked fresh from the garden to the kitchen or barbecue!
It can be quite daunting hunting through the many different types of lawn care and seed in the garden centre, but if you’re just looking to improve that neglected green patch in your garden, here are some easy tips to get going. Either get stuck in with a whole new lawn, or try some of our products that will fill bare patches and make your grass more durable.
Roses crave lots of sun and do not like their roots waterlogged. Be aware that shaded varieties still require at least 2-4 hours of sun, unlike other varieties that require at least 6 hours of full sun. Continual nutrients through their growing season will ensure that you get the most blooms for your buck, so its worth investing in rose feed – we recommend Westland’s Naturally Rich Rose Food.
For those of us who do the daily 9 to 5 grind, we’ll be spending most of our time in the garden in the evenings after work. There are some beautiful and delicate flowers that come to life in the evenings, releasing their fragrances as well as having their blooms enhanced by the glow of the moon.
Regularly cutting our lawns may improve kerb appeal, but it has already proven to have serious consequences for bees and pollinators. Whilst we offer and promote Perfect for Pollinator plants to fill the gaps in your borders and to nourish the pollinating wildlife with nectar and pollen, stress-free no-mow lawns are crying out to be utilised. Have an open mind for the beauty and uniqueness they can bring, they don’t have to be unsightly and unkempt and we promise your neighbours won’t be wanting to complain.
Autumn is just around the corner so instead of watching your summer colour wilt, start preparing for next years Spring growth. Planting Spring flowering bulbs can be easy and rewarding if you get started early, so here are our tips to making sure you have a show stopping bloom next Spring:
October brings along it’s challenges with wet, stormy weather, but don’t worry – a storm battered garden at this time of year can be quickly remedied! It’s the perfect time for pruning, if you haven’t begun already, as this will minimise damage caused by any bad weather we may experience over the coming months.
How long do you plan in advance for Christmas? Do you pull out the same, slightly beaten artificial tree from the attic or does the excitement of a real, traditional Christmas tree really cement the feeling that the festive season is here?
With the trend in recyclables and eradication of unnecessary plastics in full force, a fresh tree is the more environmentally friendly option. Even the Woodland Trust estimate that a non-recyclable PVC tree would take 20 years of use to fully cover the costs of the pollution created through their production, not to mention the transportation and discarding it when you’re ready for an upgrade!
