- Mulch beds and borders by top dressing with compost or grass clippings, this will help retain water and feed your soil.
- Get a compost bin and start composting. It’s easy and helps recycle your garden waste.
- Grow plants that attract beneficial insects which help control pests and pollinate.
- Inspect your plants and crops weekly to monitor for pests such as green fly. Remove these by hand or by spraying with water.
- If you’re growing salad leaves, don’t sow all at once but make successional sowings in stages, that way you’ll have a crop for longer.
- If you have an allotment, fill in any spaces you have left with a plant that can be dug in – a green manure – to help protect and nourish your soil. For more information on green manures visit www.gardenorganic.co.uk or buy green manures from www.organiccatalogue.co.uk.
- Dig a pond. This is the best way to prevent garden pests as it attracts so many beneficial types of wildlife.
- If you are growing tender bedding or vegetable plants, such as runner beans or courgettes, plant these out in the garden or allotment now the weather is warm enough.
- Some vegetable crops such as beetroot, chard, spinach and lettuces are prone to bolting (flowering too quickly). Apply mulch like well-rotted compost to the soil around these crops after watering to help retain moisture.
- Now is a good time to re-seed lawns if they have bare patches. To get the perfect organic lawn find out more from our booklet ‘The Organic Lawn’ available from The Organic Gardening Catalogue.
Prompt Reliable Efficient