As we all continue with our social distancing and isolation, our attention has turned to what we can do to keep ourselves busy in our home and garden. Those lucky enough to have their own outside space will no doubt be making the most of it and thinking about how they might like to improve it either themselves or planning a new design for the future.
As we move through April, we will notice the biggest change outside, with buds starting to bloom and everything beginning to look a lot greener. That coupled with the clocks changing, we will see more light (and hopefully sun) with lighter mornings and longer evenings. By far one of my favourite times of the year.
Your Lawn
I’ve definitely noticed the start of the lawnmowers, signally the start of spring and time for us all to get our gardens neat and tidy. After the winter months your lawn may need some attention. My advice would be to rake up any leaves and other debris before mowing the lawn. If you have some lawn food, put this down too.
Plants
It might be tempting to get planting seedlings but remember although it seems like the weather is milder, we are still getting a few frosts, so make sure you protect any new plants with polythene or keep them inside initially before moving them to their outside home. This is also the time we start to see snails and slugs emerging, so protect your plants with slug pellets. If you haven’t got any in the shed, you could sink a jar of beer into the soil up to the lip. Slugs and snails are rather partial to a drop of beer and this will keep them away from your plants. Drowning in beer sounds like quite a good way to go!
Vegetables
April is a good time to sow your seeds for carrots, potatoes, beetroot, lettuce, turnips, spring onions and peas. These are all fine to do outdoors. Indoors you could try marrows, courgettes, pumpkins, squash, tomatoes, and cucumbers.
Patio Areas
It is highly likely your patio will need a clean. If you don’t have a pressure washer, I would recommend cleaning your patio with soapy water (check the ingredients and labels as some chemicals can damage patios) and a stiff bristled brush. Before you start, remove any weeds from the patio.
Test a small area of the patio with the soapy solution to ensure it doesn’t cause any damage before pouring on a larger area and using the brush to scrub the dirt away. Once you have finished scrubbing, pour clean water over the patio to wash away the soapy water trying to avoid garden areas.
If you are using a pressure washer, have it set to the fan rather than a single jet to try and protect the pointing. Wash across the joints rather than up and down them and keep the hose at a safe distance from the ground.
If you are unhappy with how your current garden looks and you can’t remodel it yourself, why not take this time to really think about how you would like it in the future. Write down ideas, use Pinterest and the internet for inspiration. You could perhaps create a mood board of all the things you have found that you like. This will help your contractor get a good idea of what you are looking for from your new outside space.
Take time to see where the sunny spots are and where you like to spend time. Perhaps map out on a piece of paper the areas of your garden, where you might like to have your patio or seating area, how much lawn you would like if any and where you might like plants or a vegetable patch.
If you want to discuss your outside area over the phone, or email, you can contact us on: 01248 681 704
We are happy to look at your plans and offer advice and suggestions. We may even be able to give you a ballpark quote to see if it’s within your post-corona budget.
