With the days starting to get lighter in the coming weeks, people’s thoughts can quite rightly start moving towards what to do in their gardens in order to keep their green-fingered minds at ease.
Winter is always the most boring time of the year for any keen horticulturalist but the one thing the time off does is give people plenty of weeks to think of what new produce to grow on their patch.
The time off in the colder months can often give you a chance to be as adventurous as you fancy with your green patch but one thing’s for certain, the time to start planting tress at least is upon us.
If conditions suit, it would be prudent to complete planting of trees, plants and hedging, as well as things such as blackcurrants and raspberries or species that are normally dormant over the winter so they are in place for spring time, according to horticultural advisor at the Royal Horticultural Society Tony Dickerson.
Blackcurrant or ribes nigrum is a species of Ribes berry native to central and northern Europe, as well as northern Asia. The fruits are commonly four-six mm in diameter with five red-green to brown petals.
If the weather remains mild, it is best to start sowing seeds in the next couple of weeks. Some of the seeds that you might want to consider are things such as sweet peas or some other hardy vegetables.
Sweet pea is a flowering plant in the genus Lathyrus in the family Fabaceae, native to the eastern Mediterranean region from Sicily all the way east to Crete. It is an annual climbing plant that can add real color to any patch.
“If you had a greenhouse you might be able to plant things like peppers and so on, but even with a greenhouse, you’d be starting them next month. Planting roses might also be an activity in January that you might start thinking about,” Mr Dickerson added.
The expert suggested that now is the time to start studying the seed catalogues available to you and start ordering seeds now for planting in the spring. Now is best to do it as there can always be a bit of a rush closer to the spring and there’s no guarantee the seeds will make it in time.
Whatever the weather people just need ensure they are properly planning for another fruitful summer in the gardens.
