Gardening tips: Countdown to spring

Spring is on our doorstep with plants beginning to burst into bud and hints of new growth appearing throughout the garden after a cool, damp winter. All this activity is your sign to get in amongst it and prepare for the busiest season of them all.

Pot Plants – if you haven't already, refresh your potting mix if it has spent a year or more in the pot. For indoor plants, freshen the leaves with a wipe over using a damp cloth to remove dust. Now’s the perfect time to encourage that new growth with a liquid or slow-release fertiliser, making sure you use a product suited to your plants’ needs.

Lawns – get ready for the growing & mowing season with a little extra maintenance this month. Using a garden fork, aerate the ground and de-thatch any areas needing attention to allow for fresh growth to pop through more easily. Top-dress any low patches, keep the weeds at bay and start a weekly deep water if the weather is dry and windy. An application of Seasol or Searles Seamax will encourage strong root development followed by a lawn specific fertiliser to boost the leaf growth.

Veggie patch – continue to harvest those delicious winter veggies, composting any outside leaves (make sure they are disease free) and give the patch a thorough weed. Dig over any empty beds and enrich the soil with organic matter such as compost, microbial products and top it off with a layer of mulch, ready for Spring planting. Seedlings of beetroot, carrot, Chinese cabbage, kohl rabi, beans and spring onions are available in garden centres now.

Flowers – many of our favourite shrubs and annuals will still have a bounty of blooms coming through, but if you’re needing a hit of colour, plant dianthus, petunia, alyssum, gaillardia, impatiens and statice and keep them all happy with a liquid feed. Orchid parents – if your plant has finished flowering, don’t remove the green flower stem as sometimes a new flower stem will branch from it giving you another sensational display. Only cut off this flower stem when it is brown and dry.

All this tasty new growth will be a magnet for young, hungry predators so be diligent keeping caterpillars, slugs, snails, aphids and possums from your plants, checking for activity early morning or evening when they are most active.

If your garden has a sprinkler system installed, check for blocked sprinkler heads and pipes, nests of ants or cracks in it and repair before the weather heats up.

As they say, a little preparation now will give your plants the kick start they need to optimise their growing season and give you great results.

Top tips:

• healthy soil = healthy plants

• water wiser

• use organic fertilisers and microbial products

Happy gardening!