Backyard Blitz: Looking after your garden

Feed your plants

Like your lawn, now is a great time to fertilise your plants with an organic fertiliser to help the soil profile, and in turn the root structure of the plant. Remember: healthy roots, healthy plant.

Be sure to read the label on your fertiliser and make sure it’s right for your purpose.

There’s some great websites that provide fertilisers, tools, plants and other gardening accessories to your door – so stay Covid-safe team! 

Pruning

If you want to prune your shrubs into a shape or a hedge then you should prune them more often, taking less off. Rather than a big prune less often, where you cut everything right back. This is usually ok in the winter, but now that everything is coming back to life taking a lot off your plants will stress them out.

Pruning more often will also help the plant to bush up making it look healthier and lusher.

As a rule of thumb, wait until a plant has finished flowering before you prune it (check on when this will be for the species of plant).

Native shrubs like Correas and Coastal Rosemary are flowering now and will finish soon, yet roses are about to bloom. 

Look after your gardening tools

Keep your tools sharp and clean. Pruning tools are the easiest way to spread a disease from on plant to another.

It is a good idea to sterilise any cutting tools in-between different plants – warm soapy water will do the trick!

Remember: Sharp tools create cleaner cuts allowing the plant to heal faster.

Tips by Groundskeeper Dan