Seasonal Planting & Gardening Calendar
If you’re an amateur gardener and you’re wanting to be more green-fingered, you’re in luck. This month, Court Farm Garden Centre are here to share some wonderful tips, so you know exactly when to start your seasonal planting. To get the most out of this month’s growing calendar, get yours at the ready!
Spring – March/May
After what seems like a lifetime of darkness, spring follows the harsh, cold winter and unfolds new life. With so many new flowers waiting to flourish, you might find yourself asking, ‘how do people get such a thriving garden in spring?”.
By March, it’s likely you will see bulbs flowering; daffodils bloom in abundance, bringing a bright yellow sunshine to all landscapes. During spring, you can be planting a number of things to ensure a lush, green garden. These include:
– Deciduous Trees: should be planted before the end of March. When you plant them, be sure to add the nutrients they need to grow, so top it off with compost or manure.
– Carrots: you can start to grow these in springtime, plant them in May through to June. Very easy and quick to grow, they require the perfect blend of soil and a nice cool climate to flourish. They can be harvested in July through to October, depending on how well they have grown.
Top tip: beware of root flies – they love the scent of carrots and you could be inundated with swarms. Simply use a cover or fly barrier to keep your carrots free from flies.
– Cucumbers: sow their seeds in March/April in a greenhouse to ensure they’re nice and warm – this will encourage growth between May/June. They can be harvested from July through to October. Be sure not to overwater cucumbers – they only require moist soil.
– Perennials: are robust garden plants that grow well in spring and live for years. This term ‘perennials’ is used loosely to describe plants that grow well in planting beds and borders around your garden, providing an alternative to typical shrubs, bulbs or trees.
– Tomatoes: can be grown in January through to March. When planting tomatoes, make sure they have enough warmth, so pop them on a south-facing windowsill.
Summer – June/August
With the temperature at its hottest, it’s important to highlight those plants and vegetables that enjoy a good belt of weather.
– Annuals: dependant on the weather, these can germinate during late spring or summer and fully develop in autumn.
– Hanging baskets: hold plants such as pansies, petunias and black-eyed Susans. Keep them well-hydrated throughout the summer months and remove deadheads quickly to stop wasted energy going to parts that do not require it.
– Salad leaves: can be grown throughout the year, as long as they’re kept warm. However, they taste and grow better during the summer months.
– Courgettes: plant these late May, early June and they will grow through July and August which means they can be harvested anytime after then.
– Beetroot: can be planted in April through to July but will start growing well in June, July and August.
Autumn – September/November
– Container-grown trees, shrubs, climbers and roses: require less watering in these months and grow quickly in September.
– New trees: it’s ideal to plant new trees in autumn and if the soil is around 50°c, that’s even better.
– Broad beans: autumn-sown broad beans will be ripe and ready in the spring months.
Winter – December/February
– Pansies: in preparation, plant them late winter between December and February. You may wish to seed them indoors 6-8 weeks before you transfer them to the garden. Pansies like moist, rich and well-drained conditions, so keeping them indoors can make monitoring them easier.
– Winter Salads: for a good, tasty mix of salad that grows well in cooler months, try sowing a mixture of oriental seeds and grow in containers.
– Holly: enjoy well-draining, slightly acidic, sandy soil, and should be nicely surrounded in mulch. Should your holly begin to look damaged in the frost, simply wrap them for protection.
At Court Farm and Garden Care, we have a wealth of experience in everything green. Take advice from our experts and you will be well on your way to a lush green landscape. If you would like to know about our services, please feel free to get in contact today. Our garden centre is based in Surrey and carries out landscaping work throughout a number of locations including: Wimbledon, Epsom, Surbiton, New Malden, Worcester Park, Esher, Teddington, Richmond, Kingston, Wallington, Banstead and Kingswood.
