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If you’ve been off work furloughed during the coronavirus crisis, chances are that you have enjoyed some wonderful sunny days in your garden. The nice weather in May gave everyone on lockdown a reprieve from the pain of staying indoors all the time, giving a chance to enjoy our personal outdoor spaces more than ever.

That was a good time to crack on with some of those outdoor jobs you might not get around to normally, but your beloved garden may still need a bit more TLC before you head back to normality. With many of us going back to work very soon, the time for getting such jobs done is dropping all the time!

So if you’re heading back to work soon but think you could fit in some gardening jobs in the meantime, here are our recommendations on how to get green fingered quick, getting your garden looking perfect at the end of your furlough period.

Paint those bare fences

This is an annual job that often gets overlooked; if you’ve got wooden fences or even a wooden shed, you should consider painting them annually to protect them against the endless rain and frosts of our British winters. While spring is the perfect time to paint wood outside, the weather we’ve seen throughout June into July has been good too; largely dry, but not scorching hot.

Tidy up those flower beds

If they’re left to their own devices, flower beds can often get overgrown, weeds can set in and things can start to look a little muddled. It’s not always the easiest of jobs, getting down on your hands and knees pulling out weeds and pruning your favourite flowers, but once it’s done your plant beds will look all the better for it! This is a good time for deadheading flowers; removing any drooping, dead or forming seed heads. Doing this to a forming seed head prevents the plant setting seed, so it produces more flowers.

Look out for wild birds

Most gardeners know that wild birds need our help to shoulder the winter months, with food more scarce during the coldest times of the year. But in spring and summer, birds are breeding and feeding their young, meaning they’ll be glad of any extra food you can put out on the bird table. Just remember to keep topping it up!

Get planting

As well as tending to the flower beds you’ve got already, why not consider planting something new in the garden? If you fancy trying to grow some of your own veg, sow seeds for spring cabbage, turnips, Oriental vegetables, chicory, fennel and autumn/winter salads. If you’re in the south of England, you can even sow French beans and runner beans! Ensure they get a consistent supply of water to give them the best start possible.

Mow the lawn

If you’ve got a lawn, you’ll know all too well how quickly time flies between each cut of the grass! It’ll only take about a fortnight before you’ve got to cut it back again, so why not take advantage of that extra bit of time you’ve got to mow the lawn one more time? You’ll be grateful for it on your first weekend off after going back to work!

If you know that once your furlough period is over, you won’t be using your tools or garden furniture for a while but want to prevent weather damage and have nowhere to store it, a great solution is self-storage. You can keep everything neatly stored away, safe in the knowledge you can access it any time you need to. We have a convenient location off the A30 and have a huge number of flexible, secure storage solutions. Give us a call on 01726 890880 and we’ll be happy to answer any questions you have.