Gardening tips: How to remove moss on drives and patios
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With the weather warming up and spring now in full force, there are plenty of jobs to be getting on with in your garden. Preparing your garden during the growing season can help to guarantee healthy and bountiful blooms when summer gets underway. A British gardener, who shares her tips and tricks with other keen gardeners, shared her gardening jobs for the weekend with Express.co.uk, and it includes planting sweet peas, daffodils and sowing hardy annuals.
Louise Findlay-Wilson, who runs gardening blog Blooming lucky, discussed what gardeners should be getting on with this weekend.
Although the weather looks to be warming up, there are still chances of late frost in April.
Therefore, Louise suggested using the T-shirt hack to prevent plants, such as sweet peas from being damaged.
She said: “Remember that there could still be some frosts in April.
“So keep an eye on the weather, and if an overnight frost is forecast, protect your sweet peas with some horticultural fleece or if you don’t have that, something like a soft old T-shirt or jumper will do.”
When the weather is sunny, Louise suggested planting sweet peas in the garden.
She said: “With the weather and soil warming a little, there’s a real opportunity to get out in the garden this weekend and do some planting.
“For instance, if you sowed sweet pea seeds in October and over-wintered them indoors, you could plant them out now.
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“They’re hungry plants so it’s a good idea to put them in a bed or container that’s enriched with well-rotted manure.
“Of course give them something to grow up against such as a wigwam of canes.”
Plants such as daffodils and crocuses can also be planted out in the garden this weekend.
Louise explained: “If you’ve containers of daffodils or crocuses which have finished flowering, and you now want to free up the pots for something else, rather than throw away the spent bulbs, why not plant them out in your garden.
“Take care to keep the bulbs’ roots and leaves intact when you do this, and after planting them out, water them, perhaps with a liquid feed, so that the leaves feed the bulb.”
However, when it comes to the crocus flowers you don’t need to worry about them as they almost melt away naturally.
She continued: “I’d also remove the daffodils’ dead flowerhead by cutting/snapping them off.
“This will again allow the plant to concentrate its efforts on the bulb rather than on producing a seed head, helping to ensure a lovely display in your garden next year.”
The gardening enthusiast noted that as the soil gets warmer you can sow hardy annuals such as nigella, sunflowers and poppies, directly into your soil.
She explained: “Make sure the area where you’re planting them is well raked to remove any lumps or stones.
“This feels like a faff but it’s well worth it because these tiny seeds once germinated only have just enough energy stored in them to push through the soil’s surface and produce leaves.
“With barriers in their way – such as clumps of soil or stones – they may never get to this point!”
Those who have a greenhouse or a sunny window ledge can also sow some half-hardy flowers indoors in seed trays.
Louise said: “Nemesia will be great for patio pots or for something taller try the soft pretty cosmos or if you want flowers which look a bit more exotic try zinnias and cleome. So get gardening.”
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