If you are lucky enough to have a garden, then make the most of it. Gardening is said to be one of the healthiest pastimes around. It’s really good for mental health as well as keeping you physically fit. Even half an hour in the garden can lift your whole day.
We have great tips from the Royal Horticultural Society for the gardening jobs to get stuck into each month. Remember – each year we hold a gardening competition. Why not join in the fun – you could win a prize. Find out more by ringing our Community and Resident Involvement team on 01749 334453.
We’d love to share pictures of you in your garden or pictures of your favourite plants. Do send in an electronic picture and we will see if we can put it up on this page. Send them here and attach a picture of you in your garden or perhaps a picture of your favourite plant. Don’t forget to add your name and a few details about your garden. And if you’ve got some top tips to share then don’t forget to send them as well.
Find great gardening tips for:
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
- Recycle your Christmas tree by shredding it for mulch
- Ventilate the greenhouse on sunny days
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Plan your vegetable crop rotations for the coming season
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Keep putting out food and water for hungry birds
- Prepare vegetable seed beds, and sow some vegetables under cover
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Chit potato tubers
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Divide bulbs such as snowdrops, and plant those that need planting 'in the green'
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Prune hardy evergreen hedges and renovate overgrown deciduous hedges
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Plant shallots, onion sets and early potatoes
- Protect new spring shoots from slugs
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Plant summer-flowering bulbs
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Lift and divide overgrown clumps of perennials
- Protect fruit blossom from late frosts
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Sow hardy annuals and herb seeds
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Increase the water given to houseplants
- Feed hungry shrubs and roses
- Earth up potatoes, and promptly plant any still remaining
- Plant out summer bedding at the end of the month (except in cold areas)
- Regularly hoe off weeds
- Lift and divide overcrowded clumps of daffodils and other spring-flowering bulbs
- Pinch out side shoots on tomatoes
- Cut lawns at least once a week
- Plant out summer bedding
- Prune many spring-flowering shrubs
- Dead-head bedding plants and repeat-flowering perennials, to ensure continuous flowering
- Pick courgettes before they become marrows
- Give the lawn a quick-acting summer feed
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Deadhead flowering plants regularly
- Water! Particularly containers, and new plants - preferably with grey recycled water or stored rainwater
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Collect seed from favourite plants
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Lift and pot up rooted strawberry runners
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Divide herbaceous perennials
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Collect and sow seed from perennials and hardy annuals
- Start to reduce the frequency of houseplant watering
- Clean out cold frames and greenhouses ready for use in the autumn
- Clear up fallen autumn leaves regularly
- Plant out spring cabbages
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Prune climbing roses
- Last chance to mow lawns and trim hedges in mild areas
- Clear up fallen leaves – especially from lawns, ponds and beds
- Raise containers onto pot feet to prevent waterlogging
- Plant tulip bulbs for a spring display next year
- Put out bird food to encourage winter birds into the garden
- Harvest leeks, parsnips, winter cabbage, sprouts and remaining root crops
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Reduce watering of houseplants
