For every month of the year, Thompsons Plant & Garden Centre will be offering you our expert advice on all things gardening.

We aim to use our everyday knowledge of gardening to help you on your way to creating, maintaining or improving your garden. We'll use tips from our expert nursery growers on all things planting, flowering and growing as well as general gardening tips from our garden centre staff.

January | February | March | April | May | June

March

Spring is traditionally the busiest time in the garden, so try to get ahead of yourself. Be
cautious though as there are still frosts to come. If you like to grow vegetables and salad plants then early spring is the perfect time to get things started for fresh flavours this summer.

Plants to recommend this month include:

• Primroses. Perfect for brightening your garden, available in many colour combinations.
• Hebe Heartbreaker - Great pink coloured foliage
• Hamamelis Witch Hazel
• Photinia varieties, 'Red Robin', 'Pink Marble'

General Gardening Tips

•Tidy your borders and control those weeds. Keeping on top of weeds now is essential, as they grow fast at this time of year.

•Herbaceous perennials can be lifted and divided at this time of year, so choose the more successful ones from last year to be re-planted.

•Prune those rose bushes back and give them a good feed.

•As the weather warms up, begin to plant your new roses, shrubs and perennials.

•Start to mow your lawn, giving it a good feed and weed.

•Make sure you give your shrubs, perennials, beds and borders a good feed with a general purpose fertiliser.

What's New at Thompsons?

Early starters are the easy way to summer colour in your garden. These small seedlings can be planted in your greenhouse, and if the risk of frost has passed, outside. Use them to plant up your tubs, baskets and containers for a fraction of the cost. We have many varieties to choose from at a cost from just £1.29 per pot.