Spring gardening tips from RHS Chief Horticulturist, Guy Barter

With spring in the air, warmer weather arriving and the days getting longer, our attention naturally turns to the garden. If you’ve recently moved home, now is the perfect time to put your stamp on your new garden. Or if your property is on the market, spring is the perfect time to freshen up that first impression.

To help you achieve your spring garden goals, we’ve enlisted the expertise of RHS Wisley and the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chief Horticulturist, Guy Barter. With years of experience in the field, Guy has a wealth of knowledge and has shared some top tips for spring gardening.

Whether you need help picking the right plants or breathing life into established beds, grab your gardening gloves and let’s get started!

B&Q Bursting Busy Lizzie Garden. Designed by: Matthew Childs. Sponsored by: B&Q. Show Garden. RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2018. Stand no. 332

RHS Chief Horticulturist Guy Barters 5 tips to get people May-time gardening

1. Sow wild flowers, cornfield annuals, garden annuals including sunflowers and think ahead for next year – consider sowing biennials such as Canterbury bells, sweet Williams and wallflowers to plant in the autumn.

2. Clear winter containers of bulbs, pansies and other plants, refresh the potting compost with 50% new media and plant freely with the many fabulous summer flowers now widely and economically offered. Begonias, fuchsias and the new downy mildew resistant busy Lizzies for shade and for sun lobelia, marigolds, nicotiana, petunias, tagetes and zinnias.

3. Invest in more houseplants. Small ones can grow significantly in summer, especially if put outside in a sunny sheltered place with slug protection, making good specimens to bring indoors by October.

4. Liquid fertiliser for summer is one of the best investments a gardener can buy, boosting growth significantly. Go for tomato fertiliser or liquid seaweed, both applicable to a wide range of garden plants.

5. Make your over-wintered tender plants, fuchsias, pelargoniums for example and any new ones you have bought, bushier by pinching the tips. 5-7cm pieces can be cut off and struck in a propagator or in a pot under a plastic bag. These will be in flower by late summer.

Lobelia ‘Hadspen Purple’

For more gardening advise, click here to visit the RHS website. To find out more about RHS Wisley, read our recent blog article here.