With the weather finally warming up, we can certainly feel summer in the air, and now is the perfect time to start preparing our gardens for the summer months. No matter if your garden is big or small and even if you're not the most green-fingered individual, there are plenty of little jobs to be done around the garden at this time of year that will let you make the most of your outdoor space when the weather is at its best.
Tidy up
With most of the bad winter weather (hopefully!) behind us, it's time to get things in order after all the miserable wind, rain and snow. Sweep up leaves, rake plant beds, remove weeds and get the greenhouse cleaned up before it becomes filled with new plants. It's also a good time to clean off your gardening equipment and buy any necessary replacements, and to give any ornaments or empty pots and planters a good scrub.
Prune woody shrubs
If you have any woody bushes such as rose or hydrangea, begin pruning them back in order to encourage new growth and flowering. Use sharp, high quality tools to avoid damaging the plant, and cut close to the plant's main trunks or just above dormant buds to ensure good rates of regrowth.
Cultivate soil
After heavy rains, snow and frosts, soil in your garden will be incredibly compacted and will need a bit of attention before you can plant anything. Dig it up, turn it, and drop it back into the same hole in order to aerate it and refresh it thoroughly before planting any new bulbs or seeds.
Fertilise beds, shrubs and lawns
Young shrubs can benefit from being supplied with slow-release fertiliser in order to help them along during the growing season. Now is also a good time to enrich flower beds with fresh, nutrient-rich compost and fertiliser too. If your lawn is looking a little pale or patchy, apply a spring lawn fertiliser which will make it healthier and help to keep weeds at bay.
Pest control
Slugs and snails may have been sheltering in your garden throughout winter, so before you start planting lots of new things, you should get any pest problems under control. If chemicals are a concern, you could try natural and homemade pest repellents; crushed egg shells can repel slugs, whilst a combination of hot pepper sauce, dish soap and water can tackle mite infestations on plants.
Start composting
With all the pruning, weeding and tidying you're doing, you may as well put waste to good use and create a composting area. You could use a pre-made compost bin or make one yourself with planks of wood, but either way you should keep it filled with a good variation of waste. Grass cuttings, paper, wood cuttings and vegetable peelings all make for really rich compost that your plants will love. To help the process along, turn the compost with a garden fork once a month to aerate it.
