How To Look After Your Garden in Spring
The days are getting longer and the weather is getting warmer. Spring has definitely sprung!
For some people this might be a time to kick back and enjoy the warm weather. But if you’re green-fingered, this is the time for one thing only: spring gardening.
In this post we’ll lead you through the ten things you need to prioritise when gardening in spring, from composting to painting and planting to pruning.
What should I do to my garden in the spring?
Use this spring gardening checklist to make sure you’re set up to make the most of your garden space during the sunny season.
1. Inspect your garden
The first thing on our spring gardening checklist is to take stock of your garden space as it stands coming out of winter. Have any plants been damaged beyond repair by the cold weather? Have flower beds been disturbed or ruined by animals? Have fences blown over, wooden benches bowed, or trellises shifted from the harsher side of mother nature? What about weeds? Have any animals taken a liking to your space and made their burrow in a corner of your garden? And also – what are your plans for the space? Will you be using it differently to the way you did last year? Or if you moved in during winter, now’s the time to really think about how you’ll be using your outdoor space in the months and years to come.
Before you can get gardening in spring, make sure you know what’s what. Then you can form a plan and move forward from there.
2. Renew and (where needed) replace your gardening equipment
Once you’ve got an idea of the work you need to do, the next step is to gather all of the equipment you need to do it! From simple tools like garden forks and shovels to medium-sized items like your garden hose, and larger powered items like a mower, shredder, trimmer or power washer, you’ll want to either inspect the equipment you have or draw up a list of new items you need – possibly both.
When you’re doing this, make sure you don’t forget the fine details. We designed Qwickhose® because typical garden hose teeth break so very easily. This could be just the right time to take a look at your old hose accessories and consider investing in a brand new set that might last you not just a season, but for years to come.
3. Fix any hardscaping issues
With the preparation part done, your spring gardening is ready to hit full swing. We’d suggest starting the hard work by fixing any notable hardscaping issues. From refitting fence panels to patching up walls, cleaning out your gutters or giving benches some extra support, and even giving decking and doors a lick of new paint or oil. This is also the time to remove unwanted trellises and support stakes, and to take a pressure washer to patios covered in a winter season’s worth of dirt and grime. You may also want to hose down the outside of your house so the space feels primed to be made bold and beautiful.
4. Prune foliage and separate overgrown perennials
After you’ve prettied up the hardscaping you can turn your attention to doing the same with foliage. This part of our spring gardening checklist is all about cutting away the old to make way for the new. So grab a pair of pruners and cut away anything that’s been damaged by the ice and snow of the harsher months. Trim back bushes to ready them to flower in the next few weeks and months, and also shear back evergreens to stop them overgrowing and taking over your garden. However, keep in mind not to prune some early flowering shrubs that prefer to bloom on last year’s stems. To find out more about those, visit Proven Winners’ in-depth piece ‘Pruning Demystified.’
While you’re doing this, you’ll also want to separate overgrowing perennials to make sure they don’t get all tangled up. Doing so will of course make pruning them back that much easier.
5. Get your compost ready
Before we can move wholesale into our spring planting tips you’ll first need to prepare the foundation for growing. We’d suggest starting by making your own compost – or reviving last year’s if you have some left over. Place a compost bin in your garden and you can add waste (albeit not weeds) to it as you tidy up around your garden. To learn more about compositing, see this guide to making your own compost over at Real Homes.
6. Test and tend to the soil
To get the most from your plants or crops when gardening in spring you’ll need to know the pH makeup of your soil. Some soil will be more acidic. Some more alkaline. You can find out which yours is by using a simple soil testing kit. And once you know those fine details, you can pick the right treatment for it – starting with topdressing the soil using an inch or two of the compost you made earlier. Find out more about the soil testing process over at the Gardener’s World soil testing guide and learn about managing your soil over at this handy soil management guide by Garden Organic.
7. Get planting!
Now we get to the root of spring gardening – literally!
Broadly speaking there are two kinds of things you may want to plant – edible fruits and vegetables, and more decorative plants.
Here’s a quick list of fruit and vegetables to plant in spring, especially during the early part of the warmer season:
- Beetroot
- Spinach
- Kale
- Carrots
- Brussel sprouts
- Tomatoes
- Peppers
- Potatos
- Beans
- Broccoli
- Garlic
- Raspberries
- Strawberries
For a more definitive list of the best veggies to grow in spring and the right conditions to plant them in, see this springtime gardening guide on what to plant and when by IFA Country Stores. Alternatively, take a look at the video above.
Of course, while vegetables can turn your garden into a mini allotment and provide delicious fresh ingredients for your cooking, often it’s also just nice to have beautiful decorative plants that help you relax and revive whenever you get the chance to kick back in your garden.
For inspiration on what to plant to really add some life and colour to your garden space, see this spring gardening guide for beautiful flowering plants by chartered horticulturalist and TV presenter David Domoney.
8. Add mulch
Better Homes & Gardens calls mulch “the miracle worker of the garden” and it’s not hard to see why. It’s basically an organic material like shredded branches and bark, but can also be things like wood shavings, shredded hay or straw, tree leaves and even plant residue. Spread around plants, mulch helps do away with weeds, keeps moisture in your soil, and can be a surprisingly stylish and rustic way to finish garden beds.
One of our favourite spring planting tips is to spread mulch early on during the springtime where your perennials are planted, and add a fresh layer of it right after you plant new flowers, bushes, fruits and veggies. Make sure you do and you should avoid the lion’s share of de-weeding down the line.
9. Remove any spent blossoms
Another great tip for gardening in spring is to deadhead your spring-flowering bulbs once they’ve blossomed. If you don’t, your blossoms will put their energy into creating seeds, which could end up getting carried to other parts of your garden where you don’t want them growing. Clip the bulbs once they’ve flowered however and the plants will store their energy for the following year, giving them a better chance of surviving the winter months. Just be sure not to clip the surrounding foliage until it’s yellowed and/or dried up.
10. Prepare for summer!
Our tenth and final tip for gardening in spring is to ready yourself to do even more work in summer!
There are some plants (like gladious and dahlias, for instance) that don’t fare at all well in cold conditions. So you’ll want to plant them when spring is just about to turn into summer. With the prospect of ground frost far behind you, you’ll be all set for them to flower during the hottest months, giving you the greatest enjoyment from your little piece of England.
And with that, all you need to do is wait for our summer gardening tips! Keep an eye out on our blog index page for those – they’ll be here before you know it.
Helping you enjoy your gardening this springtime and beyond
So those are our tips on how to look after your garden in spring. How is your garden coming along?
If you’re finding that using your garden hose to water your plants and soil is something of a downer, we have just the product to help put the fun and liveliness back into tending your lawn.
We’ve designed Qwickhose® to eliminate common problems associated with regular hose connectors. If you find standard hose connectors leak, pop off under pressure or are difficult to connect when the fiddly teeth bend then Qwickhose® is for you. Simply slide your garden hose onto the inner tube, close the wings and secure with the nut, it’s that easy. The connector itself is also longer than other garden hose connectors, giving you a helpful handle that makes directing the hose’s spray that much easier.
Check out our complete Qwickhose® range of garden hose accessories here, and keep your eyes peeled for more blogs about great gardening tips for spring, summer and beyond.
