Garden jobs

The garden in March.

Five jobs a month, written on a north-facing hill above the Rhymney valley, where the last frost can come in late May. With what we have in stock to go with them.

Hands in worn leather gardening gloves planting bulbs into a terracotta pot on a potting bench

Mulch before the weeds wake up

  1. Mulch the beds with compost or bark while the soil is damp and before the weeds start.
  2. Prune roses down to an outward-facing bud.
  3. Sow hardy annuals and early salad under cover.
  4. Divide big clumps of perennials and grasses as they start to grow.
  5. Give the lawn its first high cut on a dry day.

About the jobs

Why does your last frost date say the end of May?

Because we are at about 150 metres on a north-facing slope. The Vale of Glamorgan can plant out two or three weeks before us; the heads of the valleys are often a week after.

Is this list everything?

No, just five jobs we think matter most. If you only have an hour this month, do the first one.

Are the stock lists live?

They are what we normally have in that month. Ring first if you are coming a long way for one plant.

Open every day but three, on the hill above Bedwas.

Bring a photograph of the bed or a leaf in a sandwich bag. Free parking for sixty cars, soup in the lean-to and a van for anything that will not fit in yours.