Sponsored by
Spruce up your front garden for sale
An attractive front garden can significantly increase the value of your home and add as much as £5,000 to the value of a property, according to new research from PlantforLife, a campaign by the Horticultural Trades Association which aims to help people make the most of their gardens.
Some 78% of the 532 estate agents surveyed said the front garden forms part of their sales pitch, while more than a third agreed that the appearance of a front garden is key to clinching that essential offer.
So, if you are thinking of selling your house this year, you need to get cracking now.
A good design can make a small space appear much larger, while clever planting can add privacy and security to your home.
Even if you have a tiny front garden there are still ways to use the available space to create positive first impressions. A few carefully-planted, strategically-placed window boxes and containers near the front door can brighten up the entrance dramatically.
For summer colour, plant bedding plants such as petunias and nicotiana in late May. These can be replaced with pansies in September to keep the display going through the winter.
If you want the containers to look good now, choose evergreen shrubs such as skimmia mixed with spring-flowering plants now abundant at your local garden centre, such as primulas, trailing ivy and a few ready-grown spring bulbs such as narcissi.
If your front garden space is used primarily for parking the car, use ground cover plants and containers in the non-driveway space to perk up the area. Check out the dead spaces in the corners which may lend themselves to some plantings. Alternatively try separating the driveway from the rest of the garden with small trees or shrub borders.
If there is soil available, plant low-maintenance ground cover plants such as creeping juniper or cranesbill geranium to help deter weeds and provide some colour.
If you like the minimalist approach and prefer surfaces covered with gravel or paving then there is enormous scope to design an interesting front garden. A simple paved garden could be enhanced with plantings of rosemary, lavender and thyme.
You should think about drainage when planning your front garden. You don't need planning permission to pave an area if the surface is porous or permeable, but you may need to improve soil drainage by adding bulky organic materials or grit to the soil.
Have you unsightly walls and fences that climbers could scramble up? Clematis alpina cultivars, Hydrangea anomala subsp. petiolaris, variegated ivy cultivars and ceanothus such as 'Delight' may be ideal for the job.
If you don't want to redesign, you can still brighten up your front garden to help sell your property. It may also be time to bring out the paintbrush. If you have a front gate, paint it and make sure it's working.
Some 58% of estate agents agree quick fix solutions such as tidying up the front garden with flowers and shrubs will most effectively increase the perceived value of a property.
A mixture of evergreens and herbaceous perennials should be fairly low maintenance, along with some colour at the front of a small border.
PlantforLife has teamed up with property experts Barnard Marcus to launch First Impressions, a guide offering simple garden designs, flowers, plants and maintenance advice for all types of garden.
First Impressions can be picked up from participating Barnard Marcus estate agents or downloaded for free from www.plantforlife.info.
BEST OF THE BUNCH - Camellia
These bold, blousy beauties add a touch of old glamour to the spring garden, producing big single or double rose-like flowers in all shades of pink or red as well as white. They are fairly big evergreen shrubs which reach 2mx2m (6ftx6ft) and their glossy green foliage makes an effective backdrop for smaller plants which bloom later in the year.
Good varieties include C. x williamsii 'Donation', which produces pink, semi-double blooms, and 'Francis Hanger' which bears single white flowers. You can also get some spectacular C. japonica hybrids such as 'Mercury', although they need regular dead-heading.
Camellias thrive in fertile, well-drained lime-free soil with plenty of added compost, in a sheltered site in light shade or sun, provided the soil stays moist in summer. They shouldn't be allowed to dry out. If you haven't acid soil, grow them in large containers filled with ericaceous compost.
GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT - Celeriac
This big round knobbly root is one of my favourite winter veg, ideal for perking up mash or adding to casseroles and soups, although many people grate it and mix it with a little mayonnaise to create an alternative to coleslaw. It is much easier to grow than celery, easily fitting into spare patches in the garden and forming neat clumps of celery-like leaves.
Celeriac does best in moisture-retentive, well-drained soil in full sun or partial shade. Soil should be enhanced with a big helping of organic matter in the autumn, before sowing in spring. Seeds should be sown thinly in pots of seed compost mixed with vermiculite and germinated in a propagator at around 15C (59F).
Seedlings can be transferred to larger pots of compost when the first true leaves have formed and exposed to good light in temperatures above 10C (50F). They should be hardened off before being planted out at the end of spring. Plant them 30cm (12in) apart in rows 45cm (18in) apart and water in. You need to keep the plants well-watered and in midsummer cut off the lower leaves to reveal more of the crown.
In early autumn, draw soil around the swollen stem bases to keep the flesh white and protect the plants in the ground over winter by covering them with straw.
Celeriac should be ready for harvest from mid autumn to early spring, when the stem is bigger than a tennis ball but smaller than a football.
THREE WAYS TO ... Perk up your fishpond in spring
1. Feed fish sparingly and gradually increase frequency as the temperature rises.
2. Remove any sediment and complete a 25% water change, using a water conditioner when you refill your pond and add a general disease remedy to help fight any harmful bacteria.
3. Clean your filter in pond water and spray off any foam with a hose.
WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK
:: Replace and replenish mulches around the base of trees, shrubs and climbers.
:: Move shrubs which have outgrown their space to a new location.
:: Clip overgrown ivy on walls and fences.
:: Plant out newly purchased container-grown trees, shrubs and climbers.
:: Sow hardy annual flowers such as sweet peas.
:: Deadhead spring-flowering bulbs once they are past their best.
:: Mend damaged areas on the lawn and re-seed or overseed bare or thin patches.
:: Dig in bulky organic matter in areas where you are to grow beans.
:: Prick out seedlings of vegetables such as greenhouse tomatoes and lettuce sown under heat last month.
:: Remove pond netting to stop growing marginal plants from becoming entangled.
:: Take basal cuttings from perennial border flowers such as delphiniums, lupins and cranesbill geraniums, putting five around the edge of a 10cm (4in) pot filled with seed compost, water lightly and place in a heated propagator at 16C (60F), or slip inside a plastic bag and keep on a shady windowsill indoors.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Bedford
Sunday 27 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 25 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 12 C to 26 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North east
