Ten Top Spring Time Tips for a Healthy Garden

March 25, 2011 - PRLog -- The site helps online shoppers save money on their internet transactions with almost 3,000 retailers who pay cashback when purchases are made on their site after clicking through from Top Cashback. The resident green fingered gurus at Top Cashback suggest doing the following over the next few weeks:

1.   Mow grass and seed any areas that are looking a little bare.
The ravages of winter will have no doubt played havoc with the lawn and now’s the time to rake over the worst bits, get some seed down and fill in those bald patches.

2.   Buy bedding plants and pot them on in a greenhouse.
There are some great websites that enable gardeners to buy bedding plants as small individual ‘plugs’, cashback is available from companies like Spaldings, Jersey Plants, Best4Plants and Plant Me that could save up to 12%.

3.   Feed all fruit trees with potash fertiliser.
With the soil warming up and the growing season getting into full swing, fruit trees will be looking for all the food they can get and a good helping of potash fertiliser is just what the gurus suggest to give them the best possible chance of a healthy crop later in the year.

4.   Apply feed to daffodils so the bulbs get strong for next year.
A granular high potash feed should be added in early March, and then a liquid feed like Phostrogen or MiracleGro should be applied every fortnight from April until the foliage dies down. Experts advise against tying back or cutting leaves until about six weeks after flowering to allow all the nutrients to be absorbed into the bulbs.

5.   Split shrubs that are getting too big.
Shrubs like Michaelmas Daisies, Phlox and Hostas spread quickly and benefit from being split in the spring. It’s important not to use a spade to divide the plants as this can cause damage to the root structure. After carefully lifting the shrub out of the ground, the best way to split it, is to insert two forks back to back then lever them apart.

6.   Put supports in place for perennials
This is the best time to get those canes, frames and rings in place before plants and shrubs get too high and start drooping for lack of something to cling to. Ranging from grow-through rings suitable for Hellebores and Hydrangeas right up to 6 foot high obelisks made from willow; supports give gardens drama, show off tall plants at their best and are essential for climbers like clematis.

7.   Prune flowering shrubs
Late March/Early April is an ideal time to cut back last year’s growth on flowering shrubs like Buddleia, Wisteria and Hydrangeas. Cutting out the dead and diseased wood helps growth and sustains a good shape.

8.   Feed the garden with blood, fish and bone.
A natural and highly effective fertiliser, blood, fish and bone contain all the essential ingredients needed for healthy plants, Nitrogen for stem and leaf growth, Phosphate for root growth and Potash for flower and fruit production. The mixture should be spread on the ground and raked in for maximum effect.

9.   Feed Roses
The variety of colour, shape and size that Roses bring to a garden, coupled with the fact that they can flower for so long, makes them worth the effort of feeding at the start of the summer.  April is the best time to apply some Rose Feed, simply sprinkle around the base of the plant and fork in.

10.   Sow Basil, French Beans, Courgettes, Lettuce and Sweet corn.
These salad favourites are best planted in late March or early April. Sow the seeds in good quality compost in trays and keep them in a greenhouse or indoors until they are established and ready to plant out (usually by the end of the May).

Specialist garden and plant suppliers as well as main stream garden centres and DIY stores are included in the extensive list of retailers offering cashback to gardeners through Top Cashback.  With summer on its way, there’s never been a better time to get out into the garden.

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Date: 25 March 2011
Issued by Duncan Robb
Top CashBack is the UK’s most generous cashback website. For further information call Duncan on 0207 1939 029 or email duncan@topcashback.co.uk

Notes for Editors:

Top CashBack is the UK’s most generous and biggest free to use cashback website.  Retailers pay a referral commission for any purchase made on their website via topcashback.co.uk but rather than keep this commission, Top CashBack passes 100% straight back to the customer as ‘cashback’.  Top CashBack is funded by sponsored adverts across the site.  The basic aim is to help each and every UK resident to save as much money as possible on their online shopping.  Established in 2005 Top CashBack has an ethos of ‘fair play’ and has gone from strength-to-strength with a membership approaching 1 million.

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Online cashback website with approaching 1,000,000 registered members and almost 3,000 affiliated merchants, the UK's No 1 Free Cashback Website.