March Talk
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BRHS Talk on Wednesday March 16th by Richard Lewis ‘Waking up your Garden in Spring’.
We welcomed back Richard Lewis after a 2 year break with a talk ‘waking up your garden in Spring’.
Richard asked how many had been out in the garden due to the fine Spring weather. He advised this is a ‘short cut to a bad back…take your time’. A good ideas is to do some warm up exercises to start you off.
Most people would have already started their seed sowing and propagation. To check if some old seeds are still viable, use damp kitchen paper and put some seeds on. If they germinate then they are ok to use.
Use sowing compost in small containers. Also try some phase sowing for continuity so plants grow at different rates. This is best for salad leaves.
Don’t plant out too early and be wary of frost.
Do some division and cuttings of some plants.
You can now start to get your stored plants out and pot up the dahlias.
Fruit - top and soft fruit. Apples need to be done by Feb to early March.
Prune raspberries and gooseberries.
Pruning clematis- check if they are group 1, 2 or 3 as they need to be pruned at different times of the year.
Some good ones to look out for are Francis Rivers, Cirrhosa freckles and Nelly Moser.
Border maintenance- don’t be too tidy, and don’t do it too early as insects have been over wintering in leaf litter and seed heads.
Manure locks in moisture and use a thick mulch in the borders
Pest and diseases- check around the garden and buildings for slugs, snails and other pests.
By now we should have cleaned out last years’ bird nesting boxes. Clear these out and disinfect with boiling water and leave to dry out.
Bug hotels- replace the contents, more cones, straw. Take care when clearing garden debris just incase of hibernating hedgehogs.
Be careful when cleaning your ponds, don’t clear out too much, as algae can form if too much light can get in.
Lawns- scarification, aeration, feeding and cutting. Feeding in dry weather will turn the lawn brown, so water if it doesn’t rain.
Hanging baskets- a bit early at the moment. If you plant one out early use plug plants and hang in the greenhouse. If it’s late Spring (mid to late May) use mature plants.
Thank you to Richard for his informative talk and we hope this encourages you all out into your gardens.
The winner of the March competition (a vase of homegrown daffodils) was Sylvia Morris.
