March Update

Spring has sprung and with it comes the joyful flurry of gardening activities! If you've already been out in the garden, getting your hands dirty and embracing the changing season, you're not alone. The recent wet weather might have put a damper on your pansies' performance but fear not, Hope Valley garden centre has you covered with an array of primulas and spring-flowering bulbs ready to inject vibrant colour into those spots that could use a little extra love.

Now that the garden is stirring with life, it's the perfect time to give your plants a nutrient boost. A sprinkle of general-purpose fertilizer around the base of your newly planted and semi-established green friends will provide them with the nourishment they need to thrive.

If you have visited the garden centre over the last few weeks, you probably have noticed that there has been lots of work taking place in the new building. The building now has a new concrete floor and walls. New doors are due to be fitted over the next few weeks and we will be working to stock the building with new ranges/products over the next few months.

Mothering Sunday

With Mothering Sunday just around the corner, Sunday 15^th March, it's time to start planning those heartfelt gestures for the special ladies in our lives. Whether you're a seasoned gardener or just dipping your toes into the world of horticulture, Hope Valley Garden Centre has something for everyone. Treat your loved ones to a beautifully crafted basket or container brimming with blooms.

So, this Mothering Sunday, skip the wilted flowers from the petrol station and opt for a gift that truly blossoms with love and thoughtfulness. Visit Hope Valley Garden Centre and let us help you make this day one to remember.

General Garden Maintenance

Refresh alpine gardens with new grit and replace any old plants that may have died over winter.
Re-fill any Bird feeders will new seed or nuts and provide fresh drinking water.
Check borders for new emerging weed seedlings and hoe them out.
Weather permitting, tidy up the lawn by trimming new edges with a half moon and give the lawn a cut setting the blades on high.
Dig in plenty of good quality compost into the borders ready for planting herbaceous perennials or Summer Flowering bulbs.
Buy Summer flowering bulbs now such as Gladioli, lily and tulips
Lift and divide large clumps of Herbaceous perennials and swop them with your friends.
Prune hard back last year's Buddleia stems to ground level.
Last chance to prune roses back to new shoots.
Feed and mulch Rhododendrons, Azaleas, Pieris and Camellias with ericaceous (acidic) plant food and compost.
Sprinkle fertiliser over flower beds and around shrubs and roses

In the Allotment or Vegetable Patch

Sow vegetable seeds now, we have a large selection in stock. Crops from vegetables often produce more than you can use so again swop the surplus with friends or family. We also have a Grow-Your-Own section with seeds, trays, compost etc to get you started.
Sow the following crops outside or under cloches: carrots, beetroot, broad beans, salad onions, cauliflower, cabbage, brussels sprouts, spinach, leeks, lettuce, rocket, coriander, mixed salad or stir fry leaves, radish, turnip, peas, lettuce and Swiss chard.
Spread a layer of sulphate of potash fertilizer around fruit trees and soft fruit.
When they appear, spray new leaves of peaches and nectarines with copper fungicide to reduce or prevent peach leaf curl.
Sprinkle cabbages and other brassicas with pelleted chicken manure or blood, Fish Bone.
Check fruit trees for “suckers” or grass around the trunk and remove any. Also put a handful of garden lime around the base of the fruit tree.
Plant early seed potatoes outside in rows, in large pots or potato bags

In the Greenhouse

Sow dwarf French beans in a large pot for an early crop in June.
Sow tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and other greenhouse crops in a heated propagator
Plant up a strawberry hanging basket and leave in the greenhouse for early crops.
If the weather gets warmer look out for whitefly and red spider mite and treat at once with a suitable pest control.
Continue sowing summer bedding plants in the greenhouse which include marigolds, tagetes, verbena, zinnia, nicotiana and dahlias.

View our flower bulbs

Don't forget to feed the birds!

It’s still time to feed the birds and put nest boxes up. The birds need some time to feel safe going to new nest boxes and feeders so don’t feel disheartened if they don’t use them straight away.

Fat balls are the ideal feed this time of year as the birds needs to keep there weight on for the while there is a reduced amount of natural food around.

As for bird boxes it’s worth watching what birds are in your area as different birds like different nest boxes, some like big open fronted boxes while others prefer enclosed boxes with a small entrance so it’s well worth seeing what’s right for you.

View our Wild Bird Care range