hiya bucks in Bourne End, Flackwell Heath, Marlow, Wycombe, Wooburn March 2014 | Seite 6

March Gardening

by Stuart McCann of Gardening Angel

Well, to say we have had a wet few weeks
would be an understatement! With so
much rainfall it has definitely hindered
the time that I would of liked to have
spent visiting my clients. I have mainly
been turning various beds and borders
over, weeding them and eradicating old
foliage and the last of the fallen leaves.
Doing this will give me a good head
start before spring finally kicks in! A bed
which has been turned over and weeded
looks so much better than a bed where
the soil has gone very compacted.
The date of writing is 10th February and
the various snowdrops and crocus’s are
strutting their stuff. Also plenty of other
spring bulbs are beginning to emerge and

Here are some more jobs for March:
1. Give your winter flowering Jasmines

a good tidy up, cutting away any dead
stems and spent flowers.
2. The old flowering heads of

Hydrangeas can be cut away now.
Leaving these on over winter has
helped protect the new buds from
severe frost. Make a cut just above a
fat pair of new buds.
3.  uy your Mum some flowers for
B
Mothers day!!!!
4. Give your lawn it’s first cut in March.

This is obviously dependent on the
weather, remember to raise the
blades higher than normal.
6

show what they can do,
after the snowdrops and
crocus’s have done their
bit. You can get a good
display of colour if you
plant and plan your spring bulbs correctly.
From the end of January right through
till late May (and beyond) you can create
a sea of colour in your borders or patio
containers. It is also cheap as buying bulbs
in bulk towards the end of summer won’t
break the bank!
This time of year is perfect for you to be
pruning your Buddleia ‘davidii’. Doing
it now will make sure you get good
healthy blooms that will attract numerous
butterflies over the summer months. This
popular ‘Butterfly Bush’ does grow very
quickly, so do not be afraid to cut right
back hard. I tend to cut down to approx
1-2 foot from ground level depending
on the size etc of the individual bush. As
well as this hard prune in spring, it is also
beneficial to prune off all the dead and
faded flowers once the main flowering
season is over.
Now is a good time to prune your summer
flowering clematis right down to about
a foot from the ground. Generally group
2 and group 3 specimens can be pruned
right down to a nice new pair of buds,
eradicating all of the previous season’s
growth. Don’t be shy when pruning as
doing this properly now will make sure you
have plenty of blooms later on in the year.
I mentioned above about turning your
beds and borders over to give you a head
start for spring. Once you have done this, it
is a great time to ‘mulch’. You can use your
own compost heap which you have been

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