Gardening special: How to grow a great garden with Alan Titchmarsh

Whether you have a few pots or a country pile, ALAN TITCHMARSH’s simple step-by-step guide is all you need to make your outside space flourish

 

 Your spring checklist

The gardening season starts here! The days become longer, the ground is warming up and the weeds are starting to grow. Stay on top now and the rest of the year will run like clockwork. Here’s a handy list of the main tasks and when to do them 

 

Early spring: March 

Picking off dead daffodil flowers, says Alan, will save the plant’s energy

Picking off dead daffodil flowers, says Alan, will save the plant’s energy

★ Spring clean borders and fork over vegetable beds. Hand weed or hoe and mulch with organic matter. 

★ Pressure-wash drives and patios and remove weeds and moss.

★ Prune roses and standard apple and pear trees.

★ Cut the lawn for the first time and begin regular mowing. Lay turf before the end of the month if you didn’t in autumn.

★ Sow wild flowers, hardy annuals and herbs.

★ Plant roses and climbers, pot-grown shrubs and fruit trees; plant and divide perennials.

★ Sow lettuce, rocket, radishes, spring onions, leeks, onions, broad beans, parsnips, spinach, turnips, early varieties of carrots and peas.

★ In the greenhouse, sow tomatoes, chillies, sweet peppers, half-hardy annuals and bedding plants; pot up new plug plants and tubers of begonia, arum lilies and dahlia; and plant, water and hand-pollinate strawberries.

Mid-spring: April  

Plant Tulip bulbs in autumn for a welcome splash of colour in April

Plant Tulip bulbs in autumn for a welcome splash of colour in April

★ Keep on top of weeding.

★ Feed roses, borders, hedges, trees, shrubs and spring bulbs with fertiliser.

★ Feed grass, remove weeds and rake out moss and re-seed bare patches in your lawn. Mow at least once a fortnight.

★ Prune winter jasmine and hydrangeas; tie back shoots of climbing roses, wall-trained shrubs and new climbers.

★ Plant roses, trees, shrubs and perennials.

★ Sow summer cabbage, brussels sprouts, early peas, beetroot, lettuce, carrots, and hardy herbs such as parsley, coriander, fennel and dill.

★ Water and hoe vegetables regularly.

★ Thin out and transplant seedlings.

★ Ventilate the greenhouse on sunny days but shut it down mid-afternoon to keep heat at night. Buy and pot up plug plants and prick out tomato seedlings into individual pots.

★ Plant up outdoor tubs and hanging baskets but keep them under glass.

Late spring: May  

The ultimate late-spring flowering climber, wisteria will transform a fence or wall into a sea of purply-blue and green

The ultimate late-spring flowering climber, wisteria will transform a fence or wall into a sea of purply-blue and green

★ Clip hedges and prune spring-flowering shrubs.

★ After the last frost, plant half-hardy bedding plants, dahlias and tender exotic plants.

★ Mow lawns weekly, removing weeds.

★ Support perennials with small stakes or poles.

★ Deadhead spring-flowering bulbs and prepare the ground for replanting.

★ Plant tubs, windowboxes and hanging baskets in the middle of this month, but don’t hurry as they’re killed by cold.

★ Water fruit bushes and the vegetable patch regularly. Sow swede, carrots, autumn cabbage, cauliflowers and peas; and french and runner beans, sweetcorn, courgettes, squashes and pumpkins after the last frost.

★ In the greenhouse, ventilate by day and water more frequently. Continue to prick out and pot on seedlings, cuttings and young plants.

★ Watch out for late frosts – protect new shoots and fruit tree blossom with horticultural fleece.  

Alan’s book Grow your Own Fruit and Veg will be republished on 4 March by BBC Books, price £18.99. To order a copy for £16.14 before 27 March go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3308 9193. Free UK delivery on orders over £20

Text © Alan Titchmarsh.