Raid the garden centre for established plants – or better yet, sow your own into trays or pots for a riot of colour by summer
The ritualistic morning garden inspection returned in earnest about a month ago. Taking a look every day offers a chance to pick slugs off things or unearth unwanted volunteer plants (weeds, if you prefer), but I gain more from noticing what’s growing: the perennials that have popped up overnight, what’s filling out, what’s in bloom, what’s going over. We have yet to reach the full-on helter-skelter of May, but we’re not far off: things are changing every day.
It can also be a challenge to that most crucial of gardening tools: patience. My grandfather always advised us to wait until June to see if a plant was going to do anything or not – namely, return. But even heeding that I understand the temptation to fill in the gaps in a bed.
