Garden Tidy – how to get your garden looking lovely fast

I’ve just got back from a glorious week in West Wales (near St David’s). We had two days of solid sun, two days of drizzle and three days were a bit overcast. But all seven days were wonderful in my book! It’s wild and unspoilt and we swim and eat ice- creams whatever the weather!! The only downside of a week away at this time of year is the massive garden tidy you inevitably have to do on your return. The speed at which everything grows, catches me off guard every time.

So I thought I’d share the priority gardening tasks I did yesterday evening to quickly get the garden back into shape, and what I’ll spend today doing to complete the job.

Garden Tidy – Job#1: Deadheading

The first thing I absolutely had to do was some serious deadheading. I normally deadhead every day. So, after a whole week away, there was inevitably going to be a heap of deadheading to do as part of my garden tidy up. First up was the roses. I’ve fourten of them. So I went meticulously around each, with my trusty yellow bucket and deadheaded. One of my roses is called Little White Pet and has a gazillion flower heads; deadheading this one alone takes ages. But it’s worth it as it makes the roses look loved, and leaves them to focus their energy on growing more blooms.

I also pulled off all the leaves with black spot while I was at it. Later today I’ll feed my roses as a further part of my black spot treatment which I blogged about last week.

I also deadheaded some of my clematis – not all, as I love the fluffy seed heads. Deadheading doesn’t really encourage clematis blooms in my experience, but it does make them look tidier. So I just did those where the spent flowers were detracting from the look of the plant.

Garden Tidy – Job#2: Cutting Back

Next up was cutting back certain plants which have done their thing. In particular my Lupins, Aquilegias and Geranium Phaeum. This not only makes the beds look tidier but it also allows some air to circulate – which is a particular consideration in my sunny bed, which is otherwise rammed with plants!

For the Lupins, I cut them back to the ground. I generally prefer to leave seed heads etc for the birds. However, I find lupin leaves can become prone to powdery mildew if left, especially if there’s not enough air circulating. If you have such mildew or another garden problem you can find a heap of natural garden remedies here.

I think Aquilegia leaves can look quite nice as they die back, so I simply cut back their flopping, spent, flower heads. For the Geranium Phaeum I cut its lofty dead flower heads back. I left the leaves. I’m hoping I’ll get a second flush of this beautiful, white, wafting plant in August.

Cutting the Geranium back has given my Mexican Feathergrass more room to move, it has also provided space for my Leucanthemum Santes which have gone ballistic this year!

Lastly, I cut back some of my Campanula Pritchards Variety. It’s in full bloom, so in theory there’s nothing wrong with it, but ….it is everywhere! And I mean everywhere!

I’ve campanula growing in the cracks on my patio and in three clumps in my sunny bed. The plant would inhapbit the whole border if I let it. So I cut just back a few of these clumps, especially the more straggly heads, so that the other plants have a chance to shine.

Today I’ll trim things a little more, in particular the ivy on my shed (in the background of the above picture) which can become very straggly.

Garden Tidy – Job#3: Sorting my Sweet Peas

I’m not very good at growing sweet peas but this year I’m making a real effort. So as part of my garden tidy yesterday evening, I picked all the flowers. This is vital if they’re to keep blooming and hardly a hard task as they’re so lovely to have in a vase.

I also tied their stems into the supports, this encourages straight stemmed flowers, without ‘knees’. In this fab video, Sarah Raven explains this. I then trimmed off all the curly tendrils. Again so the plants can focus their energy on flowers.

Job#4: Tidying Pots

I’m a big fan of violas which I use in combination with other things in pots. They look incredible for absolutely ages. If you deadhead and water them assiduously they will reward you with a constant lovely show. However, while I was away a few became very tired looking – they possibly didn’t get quite enough water. My youngest was left on pot watering duty and he did a very good job, but with 80+ pots I can’t blame him for missing the odd one!

Anyway, a pot with violas and a grass in seemed to particularly suffer. The violas looked rather tired. So I was brutal and removed the violas completely. I’m going to leave the grass on its own in the pot, topping up its soil a little, to give it a refresh. That way it will have a chance to thrive and shine on its own. Especially as it’s in a blue pot, which contrasts beautiuflly with its limey leaves.

One of my ‘pots’ is a lovely old-fashioned wheelbarrow, which Mr F-W bought for me on eBay. Yesterday as part of my garden tidy I deadheaded some of plants, so that its Gypsophila, which has just come into bloom during the week, has room to ‘show off.’ This is important as this plant is quite dainty and is easily masked if you’re not careful.

The work on the pot front isn’t over. Today, as part of my pot maintenance, I’ll give all of them their weekly feed. I use tomato feed in a watering can. It literally takes me almost 2 hours but that’s because I have so many pots. If you’ve only a few containers it will only take a few minutes and will be well worth it. So do include it in your garden tidy tasks.

Job#5: Mowing

If you want your garden to instantly look smarter, give your grass a mow. It’s transformational (the garden equivalent of hoovering your carpets I think). So as part of my garden tidy, today I’m going to mow the lawn. Well I say lawn, but to be honest our grass is so poor that I feel a fraud calling it that. It’s green, and full of I don’t know what, but once it’s cut it gives the illusion of being a lawn.

Job#6: Edging the Lawn

I’ll also edge my lawn, as the ‘grass’ runs straight up to many of our borders and looks very straggly. We have a really good half-moon shaped tool (another eBay find I think) for doing this. That said, a spade works as well. Edging the lawn gives everything a really polished, finished loved look. However I resist doing it too often as there’s a risk my borders get a little bit bigger every time I do it. I swear a couple of my beds have expanded a foot due to my ‘edging’ and Mr F-W is getting suspicious that it’s all part of a cunning plan on my part!

Job#7: Weeding

If I’ve time, I’ll complete my garden tidy with a weed of the borders. It’s inevtiable that if lovely plants are growing vigorously, the weeds are too! And while mulching in March really does limit the amount of weeding I have to do, there’s always some.

In particular I dread to imagine what weeds have taken hold in my raised bulb bed and semi shaded bed, both of which are taking the notion of wild to a whole new level.

So that’s it – my seven simple and relatively quick steps to my tidy garden.

To my mind, much of this activity is about ensuring your garden ‘holds its shape.’ You’re allowing plants to be shown off to their best advantage. You want to give them a tidy backdrop and the space to thrive and show the world what they’re capable of. It’s time for some plants to exit the stage and others to strut their stuff!