March Your Garden into Spring: Top Tips & Ideas for a Fresh & Bright Garden

Well! What weather we’ve had to kick March off! Blue skies, birds singing, warmer weather, I’m going to say it… Spring is here! Our customers, teams and anyone I speak to seemed to have a smile on their face over the last week which is lovely to see. 

I’ve been a little preoccupied with internal decorating (which I do not particularly enjoy) the last few weeks but I’m definitely getting out in the garden this weekend to start the journey to a flourishing garden this year.

Although, I did pop to a garden centre briefly last Sunday and picked up a couple of Azaleas. For decades I’ve watched the first golf major of the year at Augusta National in the States, which is held in April. ‘The Masters’ is known for their Azaleas and if you’re a bit sad like us golfers, it’s something we all get excited about! So I thought I’d give them a go!

Planting: Pick of the Month – March

I have to kick off with the Azalea. You get many, many types of these beautiful shrub, but I’ve gone for a Azalea Japonica. Fairly inexpensive, a bushy evergreen that will grow to about 60-70cm in height and will have an large bloom of amazing red, pink, purple and white flowers, depending on the colour you’ve gone for. Happy in partial or full sunlight and best to plant in early spring or autumn. Flowers in Late March to May


Daphne is another beautiful evergreen shrub that tends to flower in February. I particularly like these as they provide some late winter colour and the smell of the flower is incredible. Preferably kept out of direct sunlight and planted in rich soil a Daphne will grow to approximately a 1m spread. These are also available in good garden centres now. I’m proud to say that this image is mine from home!


March Gardening Tips:

1: Seed sowing:

Towards the end of March, providing the frosts have disappeared and the temperatures are rising, you can start sowing hardy annual seeds such as Cornflower, Californian Poppies, Nigella and Nasturtium. 

2: Bulb Planting:

Get a head start by planting some summer bulbs indoors such as Gladioli, Agapanthus and Lilies in pots ready for transferring to your beds in a few weeks time. By doing this, your bulbs will have a stronger root system and the result being a longer, fuller bloom.

3: Start Mowing Your Lawn:

Hopefully you aerated and top dressed your lawn in February. But if not you can still  do this in early March. Start seeding the damaged areas and give it a mow on a high sweating for its first cut of the year.

4: Prune Evergreen Shrubs:

Pruning evergreens in the winter is not best practice as it has less foliage in which to help it survive. With the longer, lighter and warmer days, pruning now will help encourage new shoots to grow and maintain healthy roots. 

Project of the Month: Rowlands Castle, Hampshire

It’s safe to say that the team of Alex and Jack not only battled though the elements but also the tricky site conditions in a recent garden design project in Rowlands Castle. 

The garden, split on multiple levels required a set of oak steps to lead to the top level of the garden (26 in fact!). These were infilled with Cotswold self binding gravel to create a safe non slip step.

Alex and Jack also created an amazing Purbeck natural stone wall with what’s known in the trade as ‘double weathered’ pointing. These are tricky to get right and are very time consuming but well worth it in the end.

Finally, we laid Raj Blend Sandstone to compliment the walling and finished with stone grey easy joint. 

Enjoy and thanks for reading!