Love your garden this summer

As gardens begin to burst with life, Peter Dowdall says it’s a great time to source new varieties of perennials

IT’S that time of the year again isn’t it? The time when that area outside your house which has lain idle for so long, comes to life once more. Whilst winter is a productive time for us gardeners, what with dividing perennials, moving established plants, double digging herbaceous borders and mulching the vegetable beds with farm yard manure and seaweed, for many the garden lies forgotten during the bleak winter months.

But at this time of year and with the recent spell of good weather, the garden once more comes to the foreground and is once again a vibrant and happening living space. Kids and adults playing, gardening, mowing grass, cutting back overgrown shrubs, dining outside, having friends over for some outdoor drinks and post communion and confirmation parties. Areas that haven’t been cleaned or even looked at since last summer’s fun was abruptly called to a halt, are now being swept and scoured. Visits to garden centres are happening all around the country to make our outdoor living rooms a place of beauty once more.