As one of the country’s most beloved gardening gurus, Alan Titchmarsh knows how to get the most out of your plants and flowers.
Spring has well and truly arrived, with the weather set to reach highs of 24 degrees celsius in some parts of the UK this week, according to the Met Office. So it’s no surprise that people are taking steps to get their garden in shape.
But before you steam ahead with spring planting, horticulture specialist Alan has a very straightforward, yet vital, job that gardeners must complete before introducing new flowers or shrubs.
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After the harsher temperatures of winter, while blossoms and foliage are beginning to emerge on shrubs and trees, flower beds are likely to be bare.
But before removing any debris of old plants and weeds, and adding in replacement plants and flowers, Alan emphasises the importance of tending to the soil first, removing roots and creating the right environment for them to flourish.
Following the removal of unwanted plants from your beds, Alan encourages gardeners to extract the roots, as reported by the Express, saying: “Now these need to come out.”
Failing to do so could mean your plants don’t have the space to grow as effectively. Alan suggests using a garden fork to work through the beds and “prise out” the roots. He explains: “It’s not vital that they all come out because they are not going to reshoot. But just to clean it up.”
The final step from the gardening guru is to use a soil improver (such as this £16.99 option from Amazon). “Don’t just give it a little sprinkling,” Alan suggests, before adding, “be generous.”
It’s this final step that will really make flower beds “ping”, according to one follower who has already put Alan’s advice into practice. “I did this a couple of weeks ago,” they said, as reported by Wales Online. “Very satisfying and makes the beds/borders ping.”
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As well as tending to flower beds and planting shrubs, a key April gardening job is beginning a vegetable patch.
“April is a good time to plant different varieties of vegetables,” expert gardener Sarah Raven tells County Living. “Get your vegetable garden started by sowing salad leaves, carrots, peas, beetroot, spinach and chard.
“To ensure you have a steady harvest of fresh produce throughout summer, continue successional sowing at regular intervals.”
Alan has previously shared that his ultimate gardening tip is not to “get in the plant’s way”. He told Country Living: “Working out what a plant needs is about common sense and observation. Plants all need light, air, water, and a suitable temperature.
“They want to grow – it’s up to us not to get in their way.”
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He then continued, summing up the secret to a successful garden: “The important thing is to major on the successes and not on the failures.
“There are always the imponderables: things you plant that just don’t grow. You might struggle for a bit and then think, ‘This is not worth struggling with. This plant just doesn’t like it here.’
“It’s all part and parcel of being a custodian of that little piece of land. Once you latch on to that, a sense of balance comes into your life.”
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