Preparing for your spring garden

Spring is almost here, here’s a quick guide on some of the things you should be doing to get your garden ready.

Order seeds

Decide on the things you want to grow this year and make sure you order bulbs, plants and seeds early to avoid disappointment. Make sure you choose plants that will grow best in your garden environment. Take note of the amount of light and soil conditions.

Clean up

The very first thing you should be doing is clearing any clutter by removing fallen leaves and branches and add it to your compost heap, if you have one.

Start composting

If you don’t already have one, get yourself a compost bin. This will provide you with rich compost for next year. All you have to do is add plant debris and leaves cleaned up from your garden, then add in materials like straw, grass clipping and weeds with water and a compost bio activator.

Check and clean your equipment

Make sure all of your gardening equipment and tools are in good working order. If necessary take your lawnmower and other gardening electrical equipment for a service. Clean your and sharpen your other tools as this will help preserve them and they will be in tip top condition.

Prune

Remove dead, damaged and diseased branches and trim and prune shrubs.

Tackle the lawn

Cut your grass and remove any signs of weeds. Add some grass feed to bring your lawn back to full health.

Hunt garden pests

Check for snails, slugs and aphid colonies taking shelter in your existing plants.

Garden plant theft, keep your garden safe!

New statistics have been released from More Than Home Insurance showing that overall more UK residents are becoming victims of plant theft from their gardens.

The research has shown that the majority of these thefts occur in the front garden, with plant pots and hanging baskets being swiped from outside front doors.

Results found that the top 10 most stolen garden plants were:

1.  Hanging baskets
2.  Bay trees
3.  Rose Standards
4. Olive trees
5. Rare lilies
6. Bonsais
7. Miniature palm trees
8. Magnolia trees
9. Daphne Shrubs
10. Conifers

You may think that there is no way of protecting the plants in your garden, but there are a few things that can be done to help prevent the theft of your plants.

What you can do:

Mark it - Mark your plant pots, containers, vases etc with your postcode, using an indelible marker pen.

Secure it - Hanging baskets are an easy target for thieves, so make sure these are secure. Make them difficult to undo by using wire or a small chain and lock.

Go large - the bigger and heavier your plants are, the harder it will be for thieves to steal them. Choose heavy bulky pots that are difficult to move.

Get thorny - add some thorny plants to your garden around access points and fences, to deter thieves.