Spruce Up Your Outdoor Space with Dobbies
Spruce Up Your Outdoor Space with Dobbies
It’s that time of year again! The sort of time when our attention turns to our gardens after a long, cold winter. And we begin to wonder what we can start to get ready in our outside space. The weather has been kind of awkward this year so far, with a mixture of storms, heatwaves and the occasional overnight frost as we head into May.
Need ideas? Here’s what you can start planting and prepping right now:
- Spring is finally visible as daffodils and flowering trees start to bloom. It’s an exciting month for gardening, with indoor-sown seeds well into growth, and it’s also time to start sowing outdoors. But still watch out for frosts.
- Refresh overcrowded perennials by digging up clumps, splitting into smaller sections and replanting. When pruning perennials some plants benefit from having their flowering shoots thinned out. Although this results in fewer blooms, they are larger and of better quality.
- Get weeding, routing out invaders so they don’t settle and spread. Be vigilant now and you’ll save hours later.
- It is now time to remove tired winter bedding and plants that did not survive the winter. Check that self-seeded forget-me-nots aren’t smothering other border plants. Pull out plants if necessary. Hoe borders to prevent weeds from spreading and seeding themselves.
- Give precious plants support so you don’t have to prop them later: place support frames over clumps so the plants grow through, camouflaging them come summer.
- Towards the end of the month, in mild areas, you may be able to plant up hanging baskets for the summer. When planting hanging baskets use slow-release fertiliser and water-retaining gel.
- Be vigilant, Aphids can multiply rapidly during mild spells. Remove early infestations by hand to prevent the problem getting out of hand. Protect sweet pea plants in particular, as they can get sweet pea viruses.
- Protect young shoots from slugs and snails with copper rings or organic slug pellets.
- Remove faded daffodil and tulip flowers, nipping off the heads and seed pod at the same time. Deadhead pansies, primulas and other spring bedding plants. Pansies will carry on into the spring and even to early summer, if attended to frequently.
- Sow hardy annuals in spare patches of ground. The-can’t-fail-collection: love-in-a-mist, Californian poppy, larkspur, clary sage and dill.
If you fancy winning a £50 Dobbies Garden Centres Gift Card to help you on your way to getting your garden ready for the sunshine months just enter via the rafflecopter below. Good luck!
I love hyacinths because of their wonderful fragrance
I love bluebells. They look wonderful in my local woods.
Roses ?
I’m a big fan of Honeysuckle.
I love peonies. They’re so pretty!
Peony is my favourite flower
Starbright Champagne Rhododendron
A freesia is my favourite flower
Snowdrops – only get them briefly every year but they always make me smile.
Pretty Woman lilies are my favourite
I love Sweet Williams!
Fuschias
My favourite are roses. Love the fragrance of them.
I love fragrant flowers – roses, philadelphus, honeysuckle and jasmine
I love Tulips
My favourite garden flower has to be roses
I love bluebells! xx
Lilies pure fresh and stunning
Roses
I love scented roses. Long stemmed,
Daffodils are my favourite, they’re nice and bright and remind me of my Welsh roots 🙂
I love astrantia flowers and grow them in my garden
My fav garden flower is a red rose.
Irises as they look lovely in a grouo
I love peonies, they’re so bright and colourful.
Daffodils, springtime favourites
I cannot resist a rose
I love roses
roses
daffodils are lovely in spring
My favourite garden flowers are agapanthus, and I finally have some growing in my garden this year.
Old fashioned scented roses are my favourite
Daffodils are looking lovely in my garden. Spring is here!
I don’t know their proper name but granny’s bonnets are lovely.
Can I count the daisies in the lawn?
Tulips are my favourite garden flower, just because they have so many rich colours
Sunflowers are fun to grow and the birds love them.
I like the flowers on helebores, but don’t like the way they hide.
Peonies – they are just about to flower now and look gorgeous
The flower I’m enjoying most in my garden at the moment is my clematis, variety “Piilu”
Peonies are my favourite flowering plants. Always have been since a child.
I love Tulips
I love dahlias, they’re so bright and colourful, always a delight to see.
We have some gorgeous dahlias out out present. They’re so bright and colourful, they brighten up any garden, and look great in pots.
Snapdragons! They have fascinated me ever since childhood and have particularly poignancy now I am an adult (and still fascinate me!)
I love dahlias but I always struggle to grow them in our garden
I think lavendar flowers small wonderful, and look great in swathes
I do love snowdrops at the beginning of the year, as they mark the end of winter
I love Carnations
I like buys lizzies in the summer.
I love tulips ???
I love Gerberas & have several in my garden this year. Going to plant some more seeds early next year so I can have even more!
Honeysuckles
I love Roses, they keep coming back
I love roses x
I love the flowers on a magnolia tree.
I love so many I think sweet peas in the summer love the scent
Roses are my favourites I love that they come in all different sizes and colors and smell beautiful .
I absolutely love Sun daisies (They don’t flower long) but when they do they are gorgeous and quite cheery. I love how bright and colourful they are.
Tulips 🙂
I am loving nemesia at the moment. Flowering its socks off in the garden, no matter what the weather may throw at it.
Roses
Sunflowers. I love the different types and just how massive they can be,.
Sweet peas I love the smell and the flowers are very pretty
Rose
I love jasmine as the scent is lovely.
I think the Iris
Rose, as such great variety, and beautiful scent / fragrance.
My favourite garden flower is the honeysuckle
I loves roses of any colour
I love tulips, they always look so pretty when they come out.