Get sharp, spring into action

It’s that time of the year when it’s time to prep your garden and backyard for a colourful makeover. Get sharp and spring into action: tidy up the odds and ends in your garden, clear out the weeds and flower beds. While you’re at it, how about digging a trench for sweetpea or a for a crop of onions in your vegetable patch? It never hurts to have a nice supply of homegrown veggies and herbs.

To help you kick-off the gardening season, here’s some expert advise from English home style designer and gardening enthusiast Sophie Conran.

“April is a fantastic time to plant out your garden. I am putting in some new borders, which have been double-dug and covered with well-rotted manure. Among the many plants I will be planting are Japanese anemone, cosmos, nepita, lots of herbs and box balls for some all-year structure. Make sure you keep your plants well-watered throughout the season and then re-fertilise in the Autumn. Now is also a great time to plant vegetable seedlings. My advice would be to go to your local garden centre and see what seedlings and bedding plants they have ready to go. I am really looking forward to my family’s first year in our new house and have been really enjoying getting stuck in with my garden,” says Sophie, who has also given her love for gardening some ergonomically creative dimensions. She has designed a range of delightfully useful tools for Burgon & Ball that make gardening a cheerful activity.

Image Courtesy of Galvanised Trug by Sophie Conran for Burgon & Ball. Available at Burgon & Ball and Sophie Conran online shop.

Tackle gardening with ease as you get ready to weed and do some thoughtful gardening. Here’s what we came up with to get you sharp and ready for a good life in the garden. To make life easy, store your garden tools in a trug. Galvanised or painted ones are a good buy as they see you through spring after spring.

Colourful divas

Image Courtesy of Keira by Klara, AquaStar by Evo Solo from Amara, Aqua by Thoughtful Gardener from Not The Usual.
Add some colour and fun with these watering cans to your day out in the sun. Spring into action and shower your plants with some water and love.

Fun, fashion and comfort

Image Courtesy of Personalised Fork and Trowel set by Lucy Watson and Gardening Gloves by Thoughtful Gardener from Not The Usual.

Prune and potter around you garden with a personalised fork and trowel. Your hands could always do with some fashion and comfort. Put on a pair of gardening gloves in interesting prints, textures and colours and you’re ready to start digging up potatoes in the kitchen garden, replanting some bulbs or even pruning the roses.

Tools to treasure

Image Courtesy of Tool Collection by Sophie Conran for Burgon & Ball.

If you like to grow your own herbs, you will need some smaller hand tools; ergonomic tools are easy to work with and sharp ones especially make weeding a doddle.

Get organised

Image Courtesy of Touch My Tools tin box by Happy Jackson from Not The Usual, Gardener’s Gubbins Pots (set of 9 pots in a tray) by Sophie Conran for Burgon & Ball and Scribble Stem Tool Box by Orla Kiely from Amara.

A little bit of order would save you a lot of time. Store the wires, spools of twine and whatever else you wish to in organised tool boxes and tins. So, the next time you’re on a gardening spree, you know where to look for them.