Spring Garden Prep - Part 1

Hi everyone, Jeanette here from The Enthusiastic Gardener. After all the rain we've had for days now, it's finally sunny this morning. So I'm going to take advantage and I'm going to do some mulching. I bought about 10 bags of mulch. They've been sitting in the garage ever since. So it's not going to get done if I don't do it. And seeing as this area that I'd like to mulch is actually in the sunshine, there's no excuse. I'm going to show you the plants. Mulching is a fabulous way of suppressing the weeds and now that it's March, the weeds are going to start. So it's a very good time. If you keep on and on and be persistent with your weeds, they do stop eventually. So that's what I've been trying to do. So what I'll do is go through and take out any weeds that I can see before I mulch. It shouldn't take very long, it's going to make it look so much better. I'm going to turn the camera around, show you the area that I'm hoping to mulch and I'll tell you what plants I've got. And then we'll get on and do it. A little cyclamen. A winterberry. This is a nandina. It's very nice, it's especially lovely in the autumn. A pieris. A small holly. We've got the sedum there, which is going to come up soon, hopefully start. A euonymus. These heathers here were a beautiful bright pink colour, but they have faded now. But I'll keep them in for the moment. Some lovely bulbs coming up. It's March now, so things are starting. We need to get the mulch down because we need to suppress. That's my rose. I'm not quite sure what all the bulbs were. I had 200 bulbs. They were all different and I've just put them in everywhere last October. So it's going to be a nice surprise because I don't know what they are. This is a skimia. This has been absolutely gorgeous all through the winter. Really lovely interest. In fact, this plant here, when the rose next to it is in full bloom, it gets hidden. So it's quite nice actually and it was just by accident, purely by accident. I planted it there, not intending that that would be the winter interest. It was just pot luck really that happened. A little sedum. This is a fuchsia, so I do need to prune the fuchsia and I might do that now. Then we have here a berberus, which is a gorgeous colour. It's just beginning to bud. I need to prune it. It's a complete tangled mess. So I think what I'll wait to do is wait for some more buds to come up for that, so that I can actually see what's what. I can see some tiny buds, but I might just leave that just for another week or so. There is an awful lot of dead wood. If I leave it for another week then I can hopefully see what's what a little bit better. And then I've got osteospermum. That needs some tidying up. This is my lilac bush. This came from my mum and dad's garden about five years ago. They drove all the way along with it in the back of their car for me. I try to plant things that aren't just green. I had a lot of just green in my garden. I watch Laura from Garden Answer who says that what you should do is plant things that are blue, red, green and yellow. So I'm really trying to follow that principle because that will make it look so much more interesting. So then we come up to the stepping stones. And I think if I can mulch this area here, about one, two, three, good three and a half fence panels long, that will be a good job done. So that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to go through and I'm going to weed. There's not many weeds. And if I put the mulch on, that will suppress all the spring ones that are about to come up. Get in there quick. Mulch all this area. In the moment, hopefully, this area will be in sunshine. So it will be a little bit warmer. So I'm going to do that right now. Anything that I see that needs pulling up. Things like this. This here. I didn't plant this. I'm not sure what it is. It could be bluebells. I'm going to pull that out. Still got some leaves. If I can put the mulch on top of that, that won't matter. We're just going to do that section. Sun's coming out. Let's get on with it. I'm actually going to have to raise these stepping stones. Otherwise they would disappear forever. So I'll lift those. Put the mulch down. And then I'll place them back on top. So I'm really pleased with what I've done so far. Tiny little section left. One bag, probably. I'm up to the ostrich spermans and the lilac bush. Just going to go to the stepping stones. And that is it for the morning. So, we've done it. My beautifully newly mulched bed. Stop all the weeds. Good job done. I think it looks so much better. So much cleaner. Tidier. Brighter. Stop the weeds. Good bit of exercise. What more do you need? I did take out some weeds along the way. But as I said, there weren't very many at all. Because I do it so often, there really aren't many weeds at all. Ready for planting, which is the best bit. We're now in March. Fabulous month. So really, you just have to get out whenever you can. I mean, it's been raining non-stop for days. We still haven't been able to cut the grass. It's March now, it hasn't been cut yet. And it probably will rain later. It's very cold. But I'm pleased with that. It's still early morning. Thank you for joining me. Hope it gives you some inspiration to go out and have some fun in your gardens. Little and often, that's what you have to do. I'm Jeanette. I'm the Enthusiastic Gardener. Thanks for joining me. Have fun in your gardens. See you soon. Bye.