A hosepipe ban is now in force in the North West and that could spell disaster for gardening enthusiasts. We’ve had some very dry weather of late so gardens have required a lot of attention, but from now on gardeners will have to be a little more resourceful when watering their gardens.

It’s always a good idea to have a couple of water butts to collect rainwater with which to water your garden. You can also collect bath and shower water for use in your borders and pots as soap rarely has any negative effect on your plants and flowers.

Window boxes and hanging baskets are a great way of giving your house a little extra visual appeal. If you have ever witnessed a little village life on the continent you’ll be aware of the incredible impact that colourful flowers and plants can have on the front and back of houses.

For full effect, select a few green creeping plants that will hang downwards beneath the basket and set these off with some thick, squat and colourful flowers. This will give maximum coverage on top and below the basket or window box.

Summer is the season when your window boxes and hanging baskets will flower at their best, so get down to the garden centre asap.

If you’re living in a house or flat with a small paved garden, you can still benefit from some effective gardening. The best way of decorating a small paved area is probably to place a bit of garden furniture in the centre and then invest in a number of plant pots of different sizes.

Place your pots around the edges of the patio and fill them with colourful plants and flowers. A couple of climbing plants on your fences is a good idea too. This will give the effect of foliage and bright flowering even though you have no borders or lawn.

You can also change the plants in your pots easily every season over the course of an hour or two.

If you want to create an oasis of calm in your garden a great way to do this is to have distinct areas in the garden that have different themes. It can be difficult to relax and find a spot to hide away if you are always in view.

You don’t have to have a large garden to do this. Some well placed planting and the addition of a garden bench at the end of the garden can create the space you need to sit and read your book on a warm summer’s day.

Another way to do this is to separate the a garden into two using fencing or walling between the different sections. You could have a heavily planted section in one half of the garden and a lawned, entertaining part of the garden in the other section. You will then have the choice of where to sit depending on your mood.

Water features make excellent additions to a garden design. And with so many different types now available and some as simple as plug-in and play, you can get the relaxing effect that flowing water will bring to your garden really easily.

A water feature might be a small pond that contains a few cold water fish. It could be a fountain that shoots a jet of water into a rock pool, or it could be as simple as a small wildlife pond. The choice is really up to you. And, because of the different types of water feature available you can let your imagination go wild.

If you have a lawn, you need a lawnmower. But there are so many different types available it can be a little difficult to make a definitive decision.

Perhaps the first thing to consider when buying a lawnmower is the size of garden you have. In a small garden a hover mower might suffice. If perhaps you have a very large garden, you might need a ride-on mower.

Secondly, you need to determine how far away from a power source the lawnmower will be used. If you need to cut the lawn some distance from your home, you may need a petrol mower.

If you want to create a striped effect you need to buy a mower with a large ’barrel’ wheel at the back which leaves stripe marks. And, no matter what mower you buy, make sure there is some form of grass collection device so you don’t have to rake the lawn after it has been cut.

If you have a look around on the internet you can usually find great deals on loads of different types of lawnmowers.

It’s never too late to collect your own rainwater and use it on your garden or allotment. Plants prefer rainwater over tap water because of the chemicals added to tap water at the water processing site. And, if you have a water meter you could save yourself hundreds of pounds by using collected rainwater instead of using tap water.

You can buy water butts quite cheaply from DIY stores and tap into the down spout from your gutter. The butt will come with an overflow system and a built in tap so you can use the water whenever you want.

Using collected rainwater also means that water levels in reservoirs across the UK in the summer months will not be depleted, so the chance of a hosepipe ban will be reduced.

So, do your bit for the environment and collect and use rainwater to water your plants.

With temperatures in the UK warming up its time to check your pots and do some thinning out on fruit trees and bushes.

Here are some things you need to do at the beginning of May.

• Feed and water plants as required
• Thin out plants and shoots as needed. Especially fruit trees and bushes.
• Check for pests or disease in your greenhouse
• Shade delicate plants from the mid day sun
• Don’t cut your lawn or water during the heat of the day
• Remove moss and weeds from paths
• Use mulch while you can still see between your plants

If you care for your garden now you will reap the rewards during the summer months.

We moved home recently so we had a whole new garden to get our fingers dirty in. This, whilst quite daunting, proved a superb challenge and has left us feeling really proud of the results.

One problem we did have however was the hard landscaping. The property had an old driveway that needed replacing and the structure of the garden needed breaking up and redesigning. Because of the heavy lifting and the skills needed we had to hire the services of professionals to do the job for us.

Going on a recommendation, we chose a local firm who were only too happy to help. But the mess created and the amount of soil and other excess garden detritus removed, left us wondering what would have happened if we didn’t go for the hard landscaping before we got to the finer points of flowers and design.

We all know too well what an effect the exceedingly cold winter has had on our gardens and allotments. Well, news reaches us from the National Trust Bluebell Watch that the bluebells we expect to be seeing around about now are in fact not going to appear until May.

The warm winters and springs over the last few years has meant bluebells appearing as early as the first of April last year. The National Trust say that this year the bluebells are likely to all come into flower at once for a shorter period than usual. We can’t wait till the bluebells come out at the bottom of our allotment, why don’t you let us know when yours start to flower.