Spring has a way of sneaking up on you. One week the garden looks bare and forgotten, and the next there are buds appearing, weeds pushing through and a lawn that suddenly needs attention. The good news is that a couple of productive weekends in March, April or May can set your outdoor space up brilliantly for the rest of the year.
Start with the lawn
The lawn is often the first thing people notice about a garden, and spring is the ideal time to give it some love.
Begin by raking out any thatch, which is the layer of dead grass and debris that builds up over winter. A good scarify lifts this material away and lets air reach the roots. Once that is done, aerate the lawn by pushing a fork into the ground at regular intervals. This improves drainage and encourages stronger root growth.
If there are bare patches, overseed them and keep them well watered over the coming weeks. A light top dressing of compost can also help to level out any lumps and bumps that have appeared.
Tackle the borders
Borders can look a little sorry for themselves after winter, but they respond quickly to some attention. Start by clearing away any dead stems that you left standing through the colder months. These will have provided shelter for wildlife over winter, but by spring it is time for them to go.
Divide any perennials that have become congested. Dig up the clump, split it with a spade and replant the healthiest sections. This not only tidies things up but also gives you free plants to fill gaps elsewhere in the garden.
Work some well-rotted compost into the borders before new growth really gets going. This feeds the soil and helps it retain moisture during the drier months ahead.
Get on top of weeds early
The best time to deal with weeds is before they establish. In early spring, many weeds are still small and their root systems are shallow, which makes them much easier to remove.
Hoe on a dry day so that the uprooted weeds dry out and die rather than re-rooting. For persistent perennial weeds such as bindweed or couch grass, you will need to dig out the roots carefully rather than just cutting the tops off.
Applying a layer of mulch to your borders once you have cleared the weeds will help to suppress new growth and retain moisture at the same time.
Sort out your edges
Crisp lawn edges make an enormous difference to how tidy and cared-for a garden looks, even if nothing else has changed. A long-handled edging tool or a half-moon spade works well along straight borders, while curved areas benefit from a more flexible approach.
Once the edges are cut back, use strimmers to tidy up any long grass around fence posts, tree bases, steps and other areas that a mower cannot reach. These awkward spots are easy to overlook, but sorting them out gives the whole garden a noticeably sharper finish.
Prune shrubs and roses
Spring is the right time to prune many shrubs that flower later in the year. Roses, for example, benefit from being cut back to an outward-facing bud, which encourages an open, well-shaped plant and plenty of blooms come summer.
Buddleia, hardy fuchsias and other late-flowering shrubs can be cut back quite hard at this time of year without any ill effects. Spring-flowering shrubs such as forsythia and flowering currant, on the other hand, should be pruned immediately after they finish blooming rather than now.
Remove any dead, diseased or crossing branches from all shrubs as a matter of course.
Feed, feed, feed
Plants are hungry after winter and spring is the moment to start feeding. A balanced general-purpose fertiliser applied to borders and beds will give everything a boost as temperatures begin to rise.
Lawns benefit from a specific spring lawn feed that is higher in nitrogen, which promotes lush green growth. Roses and fruit trees appreciate a specialist feed at this time of year too.
If you have not yet started composting, now is a brilliant time to set up a compost bin. Kitchen and garden waste can be turned into rich, free compost that will improve your soil year on year.
Clean and organise your shed
It might not sound glamorous, but a tidy, well-organised shed makes every other garden job more enjoyable. Spend an hour or two pulling everything out, sweeping the floor and putting things back in a logical order.
Check that all your tools are in good condition. Sharpen blades, oil moving parts and replace anything that is past its best. Blunt or rusty tools make hard work harder and can damage plants rather than giving them a clean cut.
If your spring tidying has got you thinking about bigger changes, such as adding a structure, installing decking or bringing in a hot tub, it is sensible to check the rules before you start. Certain garden improvements can land homeowners in legal hot water if the right permissions are not in place, so knowing where you stand from the outset is always worthwhile.
Sow seeds and plan ahead
Spring weekends are also the time to get seeds underway. Hardy annuals such as sunflowers, sweet peas and cornflowers can be sown directly outside once the risk of frost has passed. Tender plants such as tomatoes, courgettes and dahlias are better started off indoors or in a greenhouse and then moved outside once conditions are reliably warm.
Think about what you want your garden to look like in July and August, and work backwards from there. A little planning now saves a lot of disappointment later.
A little effort goes a long way
The thing about spring garden jobs is that none of them need to be overwhelming. A couple of hours on a Saturday morning, focused on the right tasks, can make a remarkable difference to how your garden looks and feels.
Work through the list steadily, prioritise the jobs that will have the most visible impact, and enjoy the process. There is something genuinely satisfying about watching a neglected outdoor space come back to life, and knowing that you played a big part in making it happen.
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