Easter is one of the peak times of the year for gardeners. With many other gardening tasks also making demands on the enthusiastic gardener's time, some time at Easter needs to be spent on the garden borders in order to ready them for the growing period in summer when border displays should be some of the highlights of the garden.
Garden Border Preparation
Easter is the best time to review and tidy garden borders. Edges should be reshaped before everything is able to grow quickly and obscure them from sight. Any damaged fixed border edging can be repaired or replaced. Plants can be protected from slugs using slug pellets, nematodes or similar measures so that affected plants are not stunted throughout the year.
Snowdrops and crocuses will be flowering in the garden, as may also narcissi and daffodils. Most plants will not have started growing, meaning that the weeds will be at their most visible and can be removed. Applying a mulch to the soil is worthwhile at Easter, to prevent seeds of weeds growing again.
If daffodils have bloomed later than usual, dead-heading will be worth doing to maintain a healthy plant. Some of the fading blooms might last a few more weeks if they are cut and placed in water indoors. Tall plants can be staked up for the summer and deadheading will be required on many plants that have overwintered outdoors.
Garden Border Planting
Easter is also a good time to plant the borders after they have been spring-cleaned. Bulbs or tubers, especially dahlias and begonias, are popular for planting at Easter. Both will need an early feed to get them going. Asters, hydrangea, irises, viola and jasmine are all good robust flowers for summer. Delphiniums and lupins are good for creating strong midsummer displays.
Bedding plants and annuals can be sown and bulbs can be used to fill gaps in the border. All new plants should be watered at their base rather than on the leaves so early in the season. They can be fed with a slow release fertilizer at this time and move onto liquid feed in the summer.
Lilies are the other popular plant at to cultivate at Easter. They should be divided, keeping about four shoots in each section, then planted with the shoots above the ground. It is a good idea to place sand or grit underneath lilies to help drainage. Lily beetles will emerge from around Easter and start laying eggs, so they should be removed when sighted.
Greenhouses can be used to help grow plants on and cultivate more plants for planting out later in the year. They also help with the other usual garden tasks as Easter, especially vegetable gardening, seed propagation and preparation of hanging baskets and containers. Other timely tasks include lawn maintenance and repairing any garden damage incurred during the winter.
Ian Dutton - My writing is part of my lifelong fascination with all spects of plants and animals. My homepage at Naturepieces explains more. My ...
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