Spring is in the air......
In your garden
COLOURED WINTER STEMS: buds are starting to burst open in some gardens, so this is now a good time to cut back coloured stems.
Willow and dogwood grown for their coloured winter stems should be pruned now before their leaves come out. Cut to within 300mm from the ground if you want a good show of stems next year.
ROSES; cut any rose bushes and hedges back by one third to a half. Prune established rose bushes removing crossed, dead or damaged wood, and prune the main stems to an outward facing bud at around15-20cm from ground level.
LAWNS: remove large weeds using a lawn weeder or and old knife. If you didn't rake to remove moss and thatch in the autumn, you can do this now. Leave the mower blades at their highest setting for the first cut.
TIDY UP GRASSES: cut back the old stems and foliage of deciduous grasses such as Miscanthus and Stipa. Be careful not to damage the young, green emergining foliage.
PONDS: remove any remaining dead foliage from your pond and leave to dry at the edge of the pond so that any trapped wildlife can escape back into the pond. Start feeding fish little and often.
