Put work in now for blooming summer garden and greenhouse

12:08 15th February 2010

Those looking to create a beautiful garden and greenhouse in time for summer should start working towards their goals now.

According to the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), effort put in now could bring rewards later in the year.

Soil preparation is vital and old crops should be removed in order to create space for new ones.

These can be thrown on the compost heap as long as they are not diseased and can help add important nutrients.

Turning the soil over and mixing in organic matter is also a good way to make the earth hospitable for new seeds and bulbs.

Gardeners should take care to only do this when the earth is dry in order to avoid trampling the ground and making it too compact for tender saplings.

A number of seed catalogues are made available at this time of year and the RHS suggests sifting through these to plan the garden and greenhouse for the rest of the year.

Meanwhile, the Wokingham Times advised growers to put off planting "tender bulbs" such as gladioloi and eucomis until April.