With Summer underway, it’s easy to overlook some simple jobs you can do now to give your garden a real boost for the rest of the year – both in terms of the health of your plants and visually too!

We’ve chosen top dressing pots and containers and feeding your lawn, which are both quick and easy and will repay you in dividends over the coming months.

Top Dressing Pots & Containers

We’ve chosen a tired looking potted box which is clearly in need of some TLC, which we’ll show you how to top dress.

You can see in our pot below on the left that there are fallen leaves and weeds growing, and these in particular will be competing for the few nutrients left in your compost so they need to be removed. Using a hand trowel, carefully scrape off the top couple of inches of compost and remove it from your pot.

We’re using ericaceous compost for our box, but you should put compost suitable for your plant into a bucket or trug and add slow-release fertiliser granules – taking care to use the dosage recommended by the manufacturer – and then mix thoroughly.

Carefully spread your mixture onto your pot or container and spread it evenly with your hands, gently firming as you go, and remembering to leave room at the top of the pot for watering.

Over the new few weeks you should see the condition of your plants improve, and we’re expecting our box to reflect the healthy specimen on the right in no time!

Pots and containers offer great flexibility in terms of display and positioning plants in your garden – and top dressing them regularly is an easy way to keep them in tip top condition. You could, of course, also choose to add a decorative mulch which will give them an additional visual boost and help to retain moisture too.

There’s a lot of very interesting science to plant food and fertilisers – if you want to know more click here for more information on the RHS website.

We have all the pots, compost, food and mulches you need to keep your pots and containers at their very best – so visit us in-store NOW and prepare for perfect pots!

Feeding Lawns

We recommend lawn maintenance at different points in the year, including Summer, and each stage has particular benefits for its season. A Summer treatment aims to stimulate leaf growth (rather than root development) which will help to keep your grass lush and green through the rest of the year.

If your lawn is looking rather tired and has weeds and moss growing in it, then it will benefit from a feed which contains weed and moss killer too. These products are easily applied using a spreader, or are available in liquid form, and will help to ensure that your grass is thicker and more robust, which means it will be less susceptible to drought.

It’s great if you find that your lawn is actually moss and weed-free, but we can guarantee that it will still benefit from a liquid feed which can be quickly and easily applied, either diluted in a watering can or straight from the manufacturer’s container.

Whatever product you use, remember to follow the manufacturer’s recommended dosage – it is possible to have too much of a good thing!

Visit us in-store NOW to pick up all the feed and equipment you need to keep your lawn gorgeously green this Summer!