Garden plans for spring ...

All - with the longer and brighter days in the last few days, my garden is looking a bit tired in relation to growth - any keen gardeners on here to give a list of things to do in Feb / Mar timeframe, in relation to general care & getting ready for the growing season ahead ?

I spent a bit of time mixing in compost into the (soon to be ) flower beds and used a pitch fork to drill holes into the (very) soggy front patches of grass and put down some soil enhancher on that (impending rain the following day probably negated it, but anyway can try again during a drier spell ).

Fertilizer to be put down for the laruel hedge
Climbing roses to be pruned in the first week of March.
Feed for the grass end of March (assuming it's dry / frost free)

Any recommendations for climbing plants ? I've a mix of clematis - but some are better than others ( they are in a sunny spot, large wall with trellis covering ). Might need to put in evergreen climbers - winter months the large wall looks quite bare).

Usually some good advice here:

Jazz01 said:

any keen gardeners on here to give a list of things to do in Feb / Mar timeframe, in relation to general care & getting ready for the growing season ahead ?

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I'm far from a keen gardener but I've bought from QuickCrop in the past and their regular email newsletter or blog contains some guidance along those lines.

A great evergreen climber but with no flowers is Cissus Striata, a type of ivy but more controllable! Grows very nicely I find on walls (needs support) or on trellis where it can find it's own way in and out between it.

If your lawn has moss: Cut your grass to the lowest level your lawnmower will allow and then cut it again. Then treat the lawn with Mobacter (not with combined fertiliser, weed killer).

Don’t panic if your lawn turns black, this just proves the Mobacter is working and shortly you’ll have a near free of moss lawn.

You can get good flower plants in Aldi at the moment which are good and cheap flowerbed/pot fillers. Tidy up garden and shed. Don’t do too much and enjoy. Be careful with your roses towards end of March.

Gardeners World you really can't go wrong if you listen to Monty!
For climber plants, we have a Pyracantha growing against a garden shed wall and it gives lovely colour in the second half of the year. Flowers late summer, autumn followed by berries into winter.

At the moment our garden is full of Hellebores and daffodils and anemone. The bumble bees are all over our garden enjoying the Hellebores.

Grass cut 3 times this year already. Edges trimmed. Heads cut from Hydrangea. Debris cleared and compost heap turned.

Great to be back out even if I struggle to do more than two hours work now.

TrundleAlong said:

Grass cut 3 times this year already

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I was tempted to cut - especially in the back garden, where it's more grass than plants - but always fear the frost with the grass low and the dreaded moss kicking in, as the drainage is quite poor (well with all the rain we've had in the last number of months, that isn't too surprising)

Jazz01 said:

the dreaded moss kicking in,

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Last year I eliminated the moss completely from our front garden. Tough job. Did it over the summer using a leaf rake to scarify.

All back again this year.

I probably have done this 5 times over a 30 year period.

This time I am leaving it and might make a Japanese type feature out of it...

You could consider switching to a vegetable bed or two; you could start getting beds ready soon and plant out seedlings in a couple of months. Strong seedlings like lettuce, beetroot or onions etc that you can buy rather than growing from seed will make it easier for you.
Great satisfaction, when you're picking your veg later on.

Monbretia said:

A great evergreen climber but with no flowers is Cissus Striata, a type of ivy but more controllable! Grows very nicely I find on walls (needs support) or on trellis where it can find it's own way in and out between it

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I have a steel shed on concrete pad.

Could I put a climber in pots and tie a trellis to the shed somehow?

faketales said:

Could I put a climber in pots

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Yip - but need to keep the plant watered & fed when in the pot(s), more than if they are in the ground.

Jazz01 said:

Yip - but need to keep the plant watered & fed when in the pot(s), more than if they are in the ground.

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Are there any climbers that do better than others in pots?

faketales said:

Could I put a climber in pots and tie a trellis to the shed somehow?

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Too much like hard work! Would be forever trying to water it and hard to have a pot big enough to grow a decent size climber.