Hedgehogs Outdoor Top Tips for a healthy garden all year round. Stick to the following tips as a general guide to keeping your garden looking its best whatever the month.
January
Protect all of the outdoor plants from frost using hessian or something similar.
Place feed out in feeders or on bird tables for birds. Squirrel-proof feeders are the best so you know the birds are getting the food.
February
Seed bed preparation. Prune the evergreen hedges.
March
Prepare the mulch for the summer. Use prepared mulch for the beds (mulch helps retain moisture in the soil).
Cut back all the evergreen grasses (evergreens are plants that retain their leaves all year round, in contrast to deciduous plants which drop their leaves in the autumn and come back into leaf again in the spring. Evergreen grasses are perfect for adding year-round colour and interest to your garden).
Sow all of your early seeds indoors in order to propagate.
April
Deadhead the spring bulbs.
Plant your leeks & potatoes.
May
Sow early rhubarb.
Use the rainwater collected from your water butts throughout the year.
June
Thin out all of your heavy fruit crops.
Harvest your early potatoes and salad.
Pinch out all of the side shoots on your vine tomatoes.
July
Keep on top of the weeding and if there has been a lack of rainfall, keep on top of all your irrigation systems/watering.
Deadhead flowering plants to ensure continued flowering.
August
Harvest most vegetables including sweetcorn.
Prune the wisteria (carefully).
September
Plant spring flowering bulbs.
Dig up your final potatoes and store appropriately.
October
Keep on top of the weeding, it will can be very intense at this time of year, especially with rainfall and warm weather. Covering the ground with old carpet used to be a good method to suppress weeds. Just be careful with which type of carpet you use, synthetic carpets can leech chemicals and deteriorate over time causing it to pollute your soil.
Harvest the squash and pumpkins in time for Halloween.
Tie all the climbers up and ensure they are safe from potential high winds.
Plant up trees and shrubs before the weather gets too cold. This can include grass seeding large areas or turfing.
November
Protect all of your plants from frosts.
Prune back certain trees in preparation for next year.
Leaf clearance at this time of year will be in abundance!
December
Prune back birch, vines and fruit trees.