Home & Garden Tips

Welcome to Star Radio's Home & Garden tips with Scotsdales Garden Centre, helping you to create a garden you love! 

More than just a garden centre…With half a century of experience they have a solid understanding of what is important to you and provide an enjoyable shopping experience, where you can shop at ease with the confidence of knowing you’ll get the best advice. Love your garden and enjoy its beauty, make your outside space work for you.

Check back each week to find a new home & garden tip revealed!

• #1 Prepare For Spring

  

  Early Spring is a busy time for your garden, as it starts to come alive again after the long winter. If the weather allows and the grass is starting to grow, you may even need to start mowing, but remember to set the cutting height at its maximum and only mow if the grass is dry.

   

• #2 Plant Your Seeds

  

  If you want your garden to bloom this Summer it’s time to plant out your Lily bulbs in patio pots and borders. Lilies prefer moisture retentive, well drained compost, that is rich in organic matter and they are best planted in groups of three or five.

• #3 Protect Your Plants

  

  Slugs can often attack your newly emerging shoots of perennials and bulbs at this time of year, so don’t forget to regularly inspect vulnerable plants such as hostas and delphiniums, and think about protecting them by using slug pellets, traps or nematodes.

• #4 Grow Your Own Fruit

  

  There’s nothing better than being able to pick your own fruit from your own garden, it tastes so much nicer than anything you can buy in the shops! And if you’d like a bumper crop this year now is the time to be getting to work.

   

• #5 Preventing Dead Flowers

  

  With so much new growth around at this time of year, the last thing you want to see is dead flowers. So it’s off with their heads as you remove the dead flower heads of daffodils as they fade, leaving the stems and foliage to die down naturally.

• #6 Weed Control

  

  As we get further into Spring you may find more and more dreaded weeds are invading your garden, try to combat them before they grow too tall and flower and seed. Regular hoeing, careful use of weed-killers or applying a mulch of bark will help.

• #7 Look After Your Houseplants

  

  By looking after your poinsettias, azaleas and other winter flowering houseplants you’ll keep their beautiful display of flowers going for longer. Water carefully with tepid water (rainwater for the azaleas) and feed regularly with a suitable plant food.

• #8 Jerusalem Artichokes

  

  Jerusalem artichokes are a great winter vegetable, especially when they’re roasted or made into soup! But they need to be planted now to guarantee a good crop for the Autumn.

• #9 Take Care When Planting

  

  Snowdrops and winter aconites add much needed colour to your garden during the darker months, so to make sure they bloom again next year don’t let them become get overcrowded.

• #10 Pond Life & Spring Bulbs

  

  All plants and animals seem to come alive in the Spring and if you have a pond now is the time to start feeding your fish. Start off with small amounts at first, but gradually increase the amounts as the fish become more active. Don’t over feed though, as this is major cause of green water.

   

• #11 Pruning Roses

  

  Roses are one of the most popular garden plants. These beauties come in a range of colours, many with scented blooms, and they can be grown in borders, containers, over arches or pergolas.

• #12 Look After Your Lawn

  

  At this time of year your lawn is actively growing and can require a lot of attention. If you have worn patches and damaged lawn edges these can be repaired with new turf and you’ll get an instant lush looking lawn as soon as you’ve finished. Be careful though and don’t walk on newly laid turf for a few weeks to allow the new roots to establish.