SUMMER LOVIN'
I’m a royal gardener – 5 ways to transform your garden in spring, and the £4 B&Q buy that makes flowers bloom for weeks
Jack also had a shopping list for the fruits and vegetable seeds you might want to get at your local garden centre
WITH the weather warming up, households will be looking to spruce up their gardens.
And King Charles’senior gardener has shared his five-step guide to transforming your outdoor space.
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From rose pruning to garden borders, Jack Stooks - who has worked in the Royal gardens at Highgrove for more than 20 years - shared his expert knowledge when it comes to transforming your outdoor space into a blooming paradise.
He also revealed the essential flower food your beds and borders need if you want your flowers to bloom for weeks.
1. Tidy up borders and flower beds
Jack said: “If you haven’t already, cut back all your herbaceous perennial or dead plants from the winter.
“If there’s any weeds that are obvious, you can dig all those weeds out and cover the garden with a really thick mulch.
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“Mulch is often used prior to the winter in order to protect plants, however, If you haven’t done it, a really good mulch of the borders or some sort of feeding will need to be used ahead of spring.
“Now might also be a good time to focus on rose pruning,” he continued.
“Cut back your roses to where you want them to go from, take back the deceased and dying flowers, clear the borders out, then give them a manure feed using a well rotted-manure.
“If you’ve got really big rose beds, it’s definitely worth putting some well-rotted manure on them.”
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You can purchase horse manure from B&Q for as little as £4.37.
2. Give garden furniture a spring clean
Jack explained: “It’s always good to ensure any garden furniture or glass houses are cleaned ahead of summer.
“If you have a glass house, it’s worth getting the jet washer out to make sure the glass is clean and ready for early vegetables and select potatoes.
“If you’ve got the jet washer out, you could also do your paths, driveways and even mental benches or chairs, anything that’s gotten slippery over the winter.
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“When you can go and sit out in the garden in the warmer months, you don't want to be sitting and getting green and mucky from the dirt that’s been lingering over winter!”
3. Compost and organise
“If you’ve got your own compost area, you might want to get that out and use it now, as well as any branches that need to be put through the shredder,” the gardener added.
“After they’ve been put through the shredder, it's a good time to start laying the branches on any borders or around bigger trees.
“Now is also a good time to make a start on early vegetables.
“Now that the weather is getting warm, you might want to go to your garden centre and see what tomatoes you like, or make a start on early onions and potatoes.
“It’s still slightly early, but once you’ve got everything organised, it will be about time to get those things in.
“Potatoes don’t come around until late February, so now is the perfect time to get organising.”
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4. Planting new flowers
“Garden centres will start getting their new flowers around this time,” he continued.
“Most of them will have started to bloom, so if people haven’t already bought their bulbs and put them into the ground, they’ll get to see exactly what you’re buying.
“This is the joy of the garden centres in the UK - they provide and sell the plants that people are wanting as they’re coming up and coming into season.
“Once the spring plants start shooting up, then you will see if there’s gaps you might want to start filling.
“This is also a good opportunity to rearrange plants whenever you might want them positioned.”
5. Make full use of your garden centre
Speaking to , Jack said: “As well as plants, it’s always a good opportunity to get down to the garden centre to see what tools are available or on offer.
“You may have broken your rake last year and need it replaced.
“Another really good thing to look out for at the moment is birdseed.
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“It’s always a joy to see what birds are coming into your garden, whilst coming into the nice summer weather.
“There’s nothing better than sitting outside and seeing those flashes of life in the garden.”
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