Easy Steps To Create Your Dream Garden This Spring

STELLAR PROMOTION: We’ve got some top tips for you this spring.

Creator Catherine Carton shares her April gardening tips

Easter is here and with brighter and longer days arriving, everyone is looking to spend more time outdoors. With summer just around the corner, there is no time like the present to spruce up your outdoor space whatever its size. Not sure where to start? We caught up with an expert to find out more…

Catherine Carton is an award-winning blogger, author, and content creator (@daintydressdiaries). The Dublin native started covering lifestyle, crafts, and gardening content in 2014 and has amassed a large and loyal following since then for her creative and accessible tips.

Catherine has teamed up with Bord Bia to promote Easy Steps to Dream Gardens, an initiative designed to help people to plant their very own show garden at home. Bord Bia has worked with seven Bloom award-winning show garden designers to create flexible designs that are suited to a range of different locations, and that can be adjusted to suit individual needs, time available, and budget.

Each of the seven designs has a distinctive border feature, which is a simple and impactful way to refresh an outdoor space if looking for a smaller way to makeover your garden. With 106 participating garden centres nationwide, it has never been easier to refresh your outdoor space and turn it into a haven. Simply bring your chosen planting list to a participating garden centre and find everything needed to recreate the design at home.

Looking for something to try in the meantime? Here are some things to do in the garden this month.

Catherine’s top tips for April gardening

April is a popular time to clean up and tidy the garden after winter to get it ready for summer. Get the family together to help, smaller hands will love getting involved in some of these tasks too.

1. Feed your lawn

Now is a great time to sow grass seed, if you have a lawn you might notice that some balding patches have appeared over winter. I’d recommend sowing any patchy sections so that there is an even cover. Next, do the first mow of the season and feed your lawn to add nutrients back into the soil and promote lush green grass over summertime.

2. Mulch borders

If you have a flower bed, add mulch to protect the soil. I use a fine wood bark but you can also use a thicker bark here on the base around plants. You don’t want to have any bare soil, mulch helps to retain moisture as we move into warmer weather and it also helps to prevent weeds as well. You’ll probably notice in April that there might be some weeds popping up for the first time so if you put down some mulch this will help to suppress any growth.

3. Sow summer salads

For those short on space or living in apartments, window boxes and pots are a great way to grow edible crops like salad veg and strawberries. Lettuce is one of the simplest things to grow and it only takes a few weeks from start to finish! Or mix flowers and salad crops in one container for a mix of colour and flavours.

4. Get creative

I love seeing people reuse old planters or salvage things to sow plants or to grow veg. Take an old wheelbarrow for example, add some soil and a simple wildflower mix, and turn this into a garden feature. Once you make some holes added for drainage, you can use anything that catches your eye or that can be recycled. Old gutters are also great, edible plants like strawberries work well in these too.

5. Add a water feature

A simple way to add more wildlife to your garden is by adding a small water feature. I love DIY ponds! Make a small pond using a basin of water or a deep bucket and this can be placed directly in a border if preferred. Introduce some pond plants e.g. water lilies, and pond grasses which will oxygenate the water and this will encourage a natural ecosystem to thrive! Loose leaves can be removed from the water, and if pond weed appears this can be removed but the pond will otherwise be a low-maintenance feature that will enhance the biodiversity in your outdoor space.

Create your own dream garden by tapping here. 

Coming to Bord Bia Bloom this June Bank Holiday weekend? You will find The Coastal Garden, designed by James Purdy for Easy Steps to Dream Gardens at this year’s festival.

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