Spring has sprung - it’s time to get out in the garden

Have you noticed? Things are springing back into life all around you. I love this time of year. It’s the middle of March and the dark bleakness of winter is over and little reminders of summer joy are emerging everywhere. Take a walk around your garden or nearest park and look at what’s happening out there. It’s good for the spirit as well as exercising off those extra winter pounds.

To help you get the most from your garden this year, this new series will look at what needs doing in the garden each month and provide a host of creative ideas and practical guides on how to create your own dream garden.

To tempt you out, here’s what’s happening in my garden in mid March….

The first things you notice are the blousy purple and white crocuses trumpeting to the world. The purple ones appeared first last week, but today they are joined by white and lilac striped ones. Being in Scotland, it’s a little colder here so my garden is often a few weeks behind those in more southern parts of the UK. The daffodil heads are fattening in anticipation but are yet to burst forth.

It’s a lovely day and the wind is rustling through the trees as it hurries the big white clouds through the bright blue sky. The birds are singing loudly from the trees. I’ve got to know them rather well over winter as they’ve been the main source of activity in the garden for the last few months. Everytime I’ve filled up the bird feeder, it’s been like a crack squadron of tits and finches that have descended on the garden. With dozens of them lining up in fly-in order to empty it in record time, I think they’ve all developed a serious addiction to Bill Oddie’s nuts (the black sunflower seeds to be exact)!

Looking closer at the ground I can see lots of strangely alien looking plants peeking out. The scrunched up red of the rhubarb gingerly protrudes, while thick green leaves unroll to reveal the delicate lilac of the primulas. Don’t miss the catkins! My magnolia stellata has cracking furry buds on it that you can’t resist stroking. All the trees are starting to bud but none have thrown the first leaf yet.

The all-year garden staples are still going strong having survived the winter frosts. The castor oil plant (fatsia japonica) and bamboo nigra are the brightest surprises as they show off their acidy green leaves. Over the other side of the garden, the glossy bright read leaves of the photina and the sword like leaves of the flaxes are waving in the wind.

Spring Review

March is the perfect time to do a review of your garden. This makes sure you get the most from your garden and helps you build a plan of action. Find out how to do a spring review here.

This year’s big tasks in my garden include: the veg patch, sorting a problem flower bed and adding a small platform over the stream at the bottom of the garden. And if I get time, I’d like to do some garden mosaic.

My veg patch is going to back to basics, since last years more exotic fayre was a washout thanks to the wet weather. Potatoes, peas, fennel, beetroot and carrots are going in the veg bed, with salad leaves, herbs, tomatoes, rhubarb, raspberries, blueberries and chillies elsewhere round the garden.

Its normal that as things grow and plants get unruly or crowded and changes are needed. But over winter I’ve noticed that my crescent shaped bed lacks good basic planting structure to see it through the year so things are about to change in that bed this year.

The third project, is the make the most of the stream and lovely views we have at the bottom of the garden by creating a secret platform that juts out over the water. That’ll be an interesting project.


Future reports will follow each of these projects and share many other ideas and tips to create your own dream garden.

The garden is prepped and the seeds are bought…so bring on the spring!