Flower Garden.

• Cut back perennials and ornamental grasses to make way for new growth.
  
• Plant summer flowering bulbs in well prepared soil. If you have wet soil place a layer of grit in the bottom of the planting hole.
  
• Enliven your garden with some new varieties of herbaceous perennials such as hardy geraniums, heuchera, poppies etc.  As we grow our cottage garden plants, our collection of young plants is available from March.
  
• Have a continuous supply of flowers for cutting and bringing indoors by either planting suitable perennials such as lupins and delphiniums or by sowing annuals such as cosmos, gypsophila, nicotiana, helichrysum, etc.
  
• Pot up canna rhizomes in a warm, light position to flower in the summer.
  
• This is the best month for planting new roses but never plant a new rose in soil that has grown a rose previously as the new one will suffer from rose transplant sickness. If you must have a rose in a particular place then you will have to change the soil at least 3ft all around the planting hole and 3ft deep. Much easier to find a new home.
  
• Prune established bush and standard roses and add a rose fertiliser around the base of the plant.
  
• Prune summer flowering shrubs such as buddleia, lavatera, hardy fuchsia and perovskia.
  
• Remove any plain green stems from variegated shrubs otherwise they will eventually revert to all green.
  
• Cut off the heads only of daffodils that have finished flowering. Leave all the foliage in place for at least six weeks so that the bulb can renew its energy for flowering next year.

 
Lawns.

• Check that your mower is in good working order.
  
• Raise the mowing height for the first cut of the season.
  
• New lawns can be made using turf but it is best to wait until late in the month or even into April before sowing grass seed.
  
• Towards the end of the month feed the lawn with a high nitrogen fertilizer.

 
Fruit and Vegetables.

• If you didn’t prune your autumn fruiting raspberries, gooseberries or blueberries there is still time to do it now.
  
• Mulch all fruit with your own compost or well rotted farm manure but make sure it does not actually touch the stems of each plant as this can cause them to rot.
  
• Place cloches or fleece over strawberry plants to bring them on for an earlier crop.
  
• Remove the forcing cover on rhubarb.
  
• If the weather is suitable you can sow beetroot, broad beans, carrots, leeks, lettuce and other salad leaves, onions, parsnips, peas, radish, spinach and summer cabbage and cauliflowers.  Make sure the ground is friable and sow to the depth shown on the packets.
  
• If you have a frost free greenhouse you can sow aubergines, cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes.
  
• Plant onion sets, shallots and garlic.
  
• At the end of the month plant early chitted potatoes and put maincrop potatoes in trays or boxes to chit.
  
• Any vegetables still left from winter will need feeding with Growmore or any balanced fertilser.
  
• Regularly hoe vegetable beds so that weeds are not taking any available moisture or nutrients.

 
Wildlife.

• Buy nesting boxes to attract birds to your garden. Hang them on a wall rather than from trees if you have cats coming into your garden.
  
• Carry on putting food out for birds but make sure there are now no large pieces of food in case the mother bird feeds it to fledglings.
  
• If your wildlife pond does not have any frogspawn try to get some from another pond that has plenty.
  
• Keep the bird bath topped up with water.

 
Looking Good This Month.

Anemone Blanda - Daisy shaped flowers of blue or purple.

Caltha Palustris - Water loving plant for the pond or bog garden.

Daphne Mezereum - Bare branches smothered with purplish pink scented flowers.

Forsythia Intermedia - Bright yellow flowers appear before the leaves.

Hyacinthus Orientalis - Available in many colours, all with delightful perfume.

Muscari armeniacum - Grape hyacinth. Intense blue flowers.

Narcissus - Common daffodil available in all sizes.

Primula Vulgaris - Common primrose. Cheery yellow clusters of flowers.

Pulmonaria - Lungwort. Most have spotted leaves with pinkish flowers.

Salix Kilmarnock - Small tree with weeping branches and yellow catkins.

Here at Otter Nurseries we are pleased to offer you the South West’s largest range of home grown cottage garden perennials!  As we grow them, we are also pleased to say our collection of young cottage garden plants is available from March, giving you the chance to put together the plants you want early enough to get a summer of colour.

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