Now that Spring is around the corner my first job is the lawn, the grass can often be on the long side after a mild winter so my first job is to mow off the top growth. DO NOT cut the grass to short and don’t scarify just yet but do rake of any leaves after your first cut. You will be able to inspect whether or not you have any problems, moss or weeds and  if so, use a spring fertilizer and moss killer. Starting now will give your lawn a good start as I have always mentioned, the lawn makes the garden. I f you do have problems please contact me and I will do my best to help.

Plant lily and gladioli bulbs in pots and take geranium cuttings. You can plant and move roses at this time. I have started some dahlias by placing the tubers on top of moist soil and placing them on a warm window in garage as soon as they show shoots I plant them into containers old buckets or plastic pots. They are then well established to plant straight into the ground end of May. Hence I get flowers 6 weeks early and untill the 1st frost. I start lots of plants this way .

I am honoured this year to have been accepted by the National Garden Scheme to open my garden 14-15 June together with 3 other gardens in Buckingham Road and Liverpool Road South, all in aid of Macmillan Nurses .

Another problem I should have mentioned is moss in lawns I am fortunate not to have any in my lawn due to regular inspection and spiking to encourage good drainage ,moss produces spores around April then spores again in autumn the best procedure to treat is rake as much as possible and apply a liquid moss killer (ferrous sulphate) then you will have to wait a couple weeks while your lawn goes black then rake but remember you wont kill it all as it does penetrate deep and you can spread any remaining live moss around the lawn a bad infestation will require further treatment but well worth the hard work it will transform your garden.

                                            Norman Conway.