Sponsored Editorial

With warmer weather starting to appear more regularly, drinking water supplier South East Water is suggesting now is the perfect time to act and do those jobs around the garden so you can put your feet up and enjoy it later.

Whilst weeding might feel some people with dread, getting rid of them now will mean plants get to retain more of the precious water and keep blooming long into summer.

Another protection method is adding mulch, like bark chippings, to borders and pots. It will lock in moisture, keep the soil from drying out in hot spells and save you from needing to water so much.

It’s not just the plants we have now. With hotter summers and wetter winters, having a garden that can adapt to our changing climate is becoming even more important. This could mean gardening with less water. Choosing drought-tolerant plants to suit our growing conditions is a great habit to start now.

But you don’t have to compromise on beauty or fragrance. Many hardy plants deserve a place in any English country garden:

- Luscious lavender - A quintessentially English plant, thought to have been around in the UK since Roman times, is hugely diverse. With a relaxing scent, it is also a bountiful plant for bees and butterflies.
- Aromatic rosemary - What a plant! It can feed you, gives off a heavenly scent, is a striking violet colour and year-round plant that is tolerant to drought. What more could you want?
- Gleeful geraniums - They aren't just happy-looking plants, they work hard too. Some of the 422 species that exist are perennial too and are incredibly robust.

South East Water is offering these tips and many more on their website here, because together, if everyone makes simple changes, we can make more of this summer.