by Janis on 29th March 2024 / 0 comments
Spring is here, and the birds are singing
Ahh, there’s nothing quite like stepping out into your garden on a bright spring day, and the birds are chirping, and your colourful flowering bulbs are swaying in a gentle breeze. It’s like having an embracing, warm hug.
Many of our plants are shooting up through the rich soil at an incredible rate, especially the hostas we bought last year. You turn your back, and another verdant shoot starts to appear. It’s amazing how quickly things grow when the earth warms up, and the temperature slowly rises.
We recently caught sight of our local squirrel, and he’s kindly been aerating our lawn for us, by digging lots of holes to hunt for his hidden nuts.
Pinterest?
Why not Pin it for later?
What we’ve been up to in March
In the garden and on the websiteWell, I’ve purchased some more seeds; as usual, I bought far too many. It’s always the same; the blooms on the eye-catching packets lure me in, and I can’t put them back.
I’ve now got to start sowing them all, so watch this space. I haven’t bought any seeds for bedding plants this year as mine never look as good as the ones from our local charity-run garden centre, Spadework. So, I’ll be visiting them in the coming months.
Packets of seeds
One of the fence lines in our garden looks very exposed, so we’ve decided to buy a few evergreen shrubs, that are manageable and don’t grow too tall. We’ve found a home for a Diosma ‘Sunset Gold’, a Hebe ‘True Love’, a Rosemary and a ‘Curly Red’ Leucothoe.
We also couldn’t resist buying another rose; our new purchase is a climbing rose named ‘Handel’. Oh yes, we also picked up a couple of ferns, an achillea, an aquilegia, a peony, and a lovely Acer Palmatum Dissectum.
Our new Hebe ‘True Love
I’ve managed to tidy up the front garden this month and clear the weeds beginning to grow in our two front beds. Talking of weeding, we’ve been clearing the rogue plants in our cottage garden bed. However, we do seem to have an abundance of forget-me-nots, so I think we will have to be ruthless and clear some out.
While working in our cottage garden bed, I noticed a plant I didn’t recognise. So, I used the fantastic app ‘PlantNet’ and discovered that my ‘honesty’ sown last year has sprung into life for 2024.
Achievements for March
Let’s keep ticking those boxesMarch has been a mixed month in terms of weather. We’ve had a few lovely and bright days, but once again, we’ve had a fair share of rain in the southeast of the UK. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a more prolonged spell of dry days.
Gary has cleared more earth from the raised beds, and we now feel like we have a better plan for this section of the garden. We’ve decided where the rockery will be laid and, we’ve chosen the spot for a seating area.
Woodland shady and outhouse
So, let’s see what we’ve managed to tick off for March.
Tidied and weeded the front garden.
Gave the lawn its maiden cut.
Keeping an eye on my softwood cuttings, which are over-wintering.
Planted all our new evergreen shrubs and our spontaneous purchases.
Bought new chilli, tomato, achillea and cornflower seeds to sow.
Pruned our standard roses.
Lessons learnt & mistakes made
You live and learnNot only do we have a geranium problem in our lawn, but we also now appear to have an abundance of Forget-me-Not. I know there are worse problems to have, but I think we are going to have to thin them out.
One ongoing issue we have at the moment is that we still have a problem with ground cover geraniums, and now they appear to be encroaching on the lawn.
Cottage Garden March 2024
Our plans for the coming month
What’s on your to-do list?Decided on the planting for our two front garden beds.
Tidy and clear some pots on the patio
Continue to monitor our garden tasks on the RHS Planner; this online tool is so handy.
Continue clearing weeds and unwanted planting in the Cottage Garden section.
Sow my new seed purchases.
Divide and replant crocosmia and ferns where required.
Prune unruly shrubs in the secret garden.
Please let us know what you have planned in your garden this month; we’d love to know.
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