My daughter is making her communion in May and we’re having friends and family around to celebrate. With this in mind, could you suggest any easy, affordable ways to give our very tired-looking garden a bit of a lift so that it looks nice on the day?
Collette C, Co Kildare
Firstly, don’t be too downcast by how your garden is looking right now, after what’s been a long, gruelling winter and many months of rain. Instead be reassured that May is typically an exceptionally lovely time of year for Irish gardens, with many at their pristine best.
The planting aside, explore ways to freshen up any hard landscaping, from scrubbing down paving and raking and refreshing pebble paths to giving tired garden furniture a makeover by repainting or staining it, or, if required, replacing it. Something as simple as using a guide string and a sharp spade or edger to clearly define the boundaries of a tatty lawn will also work wonders. So will regular mowing, using a mulching mower to encourage healthy growth.
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That same tatty lawn might benefit from being scarified (wait until late March to do this), using a rake to remove any dead thatch (old grass) or moss to encourage new, vigorous growth. Ugly bare patches can also be repaired by reseeding them with some lawn seed sowed in April. Just make sure to prep the soil in advance to encourage good germination.
Spring is also a good time to start clearing away weeds and any dead growth from flower beds (add these to the compost heap) before covering the ground with a fresh layer of weed-suppressing organic mulch (suppliers include envirogardenandhome.com, quickcrop.ie, geeup.ie, enrich.ie and landscapedepot.ie). Not only is this great for soil and plant life but it will do a lot to make your garden feel loved and cared for.
As for giving some seasonal oomph to the planting, my suggestion is to start with some lush containers placed in clusters around the front door as well as near any important seating areas outdoors. Fill these with late-spring flowering perennials such as lupin, allium, aquilegia, geum, sweet rocket and Viola cornuta, making sure to add some foliage interest too. Close to the date, you could buy some pots of late-flowering tulips for extra pops of colour.
[ Eight clever ways to transform your garden this summerOpens in new window ]
If the budget allows, also try to include a few larger shrubby specimen plants in big containers for extra impact. Suggestions include lilac, ceanothus, kolkwitzia, deutzia, abelia, pieris, philadelphus, azalea and rhododendron. After the celebrations, some of these plants can then be moved to a more permanent growing spot in the garden where they’ll quickly bulk up, leaving space behind in the containers for summer-flowering plants.
