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SPRING The gardening season starts here, the ground is warming up, days are getting longer and the weeds are starting to grow. You have two simple choices, call in the professionals or take on the challenge yourself. Services offered by local gardeners, designers, landscape architects and maintenance teams include, regular maintenance, maintenance plans, consultations, planting plans, redesigns of any size, design and build, irrigation systems, lighting systems, planning applications, you name it and one of us will do it.


Employing a garden designer: the right design for you Prioritising your needs and wants is an important part of the design process. It is a good idea to go through a check-list and discuss your ideas. Questions to consider are:


Who will use the garden, including pets. Which direction does the garden face. Desired character / feel / mood of garden. Planting emphasis. Favourite plants to be included. What features do you want / need. Are there existing visual and functional problems in the garden. Elements / features to be retained or improved. Elements / features that must go. Desired level of


maintenance. Preferred landscaping materials. Ease of access to the garden. The style, age and condition of your house. Exterior features. Existing plants. What work can I do myself. What work needs a contractor. Budget. Time-scale.


General garden tasks Tidy the borders and mulch. Start by forking out weeds and cutting out dead stems from any perennial plants not cut down last autumn. Cut back ornamental grasses and deadhead daffodils but let the foliage die back naturally. Fork over the soil removing old plant debris, snails and slugs but remember not to pull out self-sown seedlings that you can grow on and move around the garden.


Once the area is tidy, cover the bed with a 5cm layer of organic matter such as manure, garden compost, bark chippings or mushroom compost. Regular mulching will cover annual weed seeds, preventing them from germinating, meaning you won't need to do as much weeding, it will reduce water evaporation in the summer months and the worms will take the goodness from the mulch down into the soil, so you won't have to do any hefty digging in.


Divide perennials. You should divide perennial


plants when they are dormant, not in active growth. Summer-flowering plants should be divided in spring or autumn when the soil is dry. Spring-flowering plants, such as irises, are best divided in summer after flowering when they produce new roots.


Simple steps for dividing perennials • Lift plants gently with a garden fork, care should be taken to limit root damage. Shake off excess soil so that roots are clearly visible.


• Some plants produce individual plantlets which can be pulled and teased out and replanted.


Plunge the spade into the clump trying to produce clumps containing three to five healthy shoots.


The new smaller plant divisions should be planted as soon as possible and watered in well.


Alternatively pot up individually to grow in, overwintering pots in a frost- free environment. Dividing perennials regularly will ensure healthy, strong, vigorous plants that will continue to perform year after year. You can also multiply your plant stock for free and if you have too many, why not donate them to a local charity holding a plant sale.


Dividing perennials by hand


• For larger fibrous-rooted perennials, use two garden forks inserted into the crown back-to-back. Use the forks as levers to loosen and break the root mass into two sections. Further division can then take place.


• In some cases, a sharp knife, axe or lawn edging iron may be needed to split the clump in two.


Open garden, Rosel Manor, 2010


Prune established bush and standard roses, buddleia and dogwoods.


Flower garden During April you can apply a general purpose fertiliser to borders and beds.


Sketch of proposed design, McArthur Landscapes portfolio


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dividing perennials with a spade


Ponds and water features Now the temperature is rising you can remove pool heaters. Give filters, pumps, lights and water features a clean and make sure they are all working properly before returning them to the pond. Apply barley straw to your pond to control algea. Divide marginal and bog plants while they are still dormant. During April plant up pond perennials and divide and replant overcrowded water lilies while they are still dormant.


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