Garden Jobs to Do in Spring

When spring finally arrives, after the long winter, we’re itching to get back out in our gardens. Spring is a great time to evaluate and make lists of spring jobs to do. This post is all about those Garden Jobs to Do in Spring.

Winter can be a sedentary time, so getting back out into the garden to spring clean can seem like an effort. Getting out and making a list of jobs is well worth it, the fresh air and being outside is good for our mindfulness.

Spring gardening can be a necessary evil, or, with the right tools, it can be enjoyable. Whatever the case, it’s a great time to wrap up warm and make some progress on those garden jobs to do in Spring. Getting your garden spring cleaning regime right will get your garden off to a great start and prepared for the season ahead, ready for the warmer weather.

The following sections are broken into early, mid, and late garden jobs to do in spring. This list of garden jobs to do in spring will help you plan out your time.

Garden Jobs To Do In Spring – Late February/March Jobs

1. Prune roses. Early spring is a great time to get on top of last year’s growth on roses:
   
   

   Garden tip: Use clean, sharp Bypass Secateurs and a pair of protective gardening gloves to prune with.

   
   
   • Start by removing any dead, diseased or dying branches.
   • Thin any old growth that you don’t want.
   • If you still think it’s overcrowded, remove any cross-growing branches and cut back a few older stems to the base.
   • Finally, encourage new growth by removing up to a quarter from the top of the remaining healthy main stems.
   
   
2. Tidy beds and borders and weed. Use a hoe or get at those really deep tap roots with Daisy Grubber, not forgetting a Gardman kneeler pad to save your knees. Pay particular attention to overwintering perennial weeds, such as dock and nettles. Afterwards, add mulch using compost or manure to prep your soil for the coming season.
3. 3. Sow chilli and tomato seeds in propagators. If you have some heating, use your greenhouse or a warm windowsill. Getting seedlings started now will allow them to develop into strong plants ready for transplanting later in spring.
4. 4. Clean the glass of your greenhouse. Clean glass lets more light through to your plants. This means your plants will get more light and develop better.
5. 5. Look out for spring deals on gardening equipment. Winter and early spring is a great time to keep an out for gardening sales. You could save yourself some money.
6. 6. Use composted leaves as a soil improver. If you composted the autumnal leaf fall last year, they’re a great soil improver. Take the composted leaves from the bottom of the pile and use them as a mulch in your flower beds and large pots as a soil improver.
7. 7. Plant onion sets and shallots as well as first early potatoes. First Early potatoes take around 10 weeks to crop and you can plant them in late February into March in deep planting holes to protect them. Once the soil is beginning to warm, around mid-March, you can plant onions and shallots, if you want to avoid bolting, use a variety that’s less sensitive to cold weather.

Garden Jobs To Do In Spring – April

1. Aerate your lawn.
2. Mow the lawn on a high setting – use the mulching plug if you have one.
3. Feed the lawn with a 4-in-one lawn feed.
4. Plant out semi-hardy annuals or harden them off in the greenhouse or cold frames.
5. Sow Vegetables & Salad Crops & Order Annual Bedding Plants.
6. Clean Greenhouse Glazing.

Aerate your lawn

Aerating your lawn is simple, and well worth the effort to give it an early spring boost.

Simply push a garden fork into the turf at six-inch intervals. While it’s in the turf, give it a wiggle before lifting out and moving on. This simple job allows for aeration and removes compaction. It gives your roots improved air access and improves drainage – do it before the April showers arrive.

Mowing Your Lawn

One of the most common garden jobs to do in spring, once the grass takes off with vigorous growth, is mow the lawn. When your lawn is showing signs of growth, you can begin to cut it. It’s best to begin with the highest lawn mower setting. It’s also time to start to think about feeding your lawn.

Mulching Plug

If your mower has a mulching plug, now is a good time to use it. Early spring grass growth is full of nitrogen, triggered by the warming sun, kickstarting photosynthesis. Mulching your lawn with this early growth acts as a natural fertiliser. As the soft growth composts down it returns nitrogen to the soil.

After the first cut you can then gradually reduce the height of cut until the desired height is reached.

Feed & Weed Lawn Nutrients

Once your lawn is visibly growing, apply a lawn feed, like Miracle-Gro® EverGreen Fast Green or Miracle-Gro® EverGreen Complete 4 in 1. Feeding your lawn helps to set it up for the summer ahead and all the extra traffic it gets.

Garden tip: Using this 4-in-1 “weed and feed” product not only works to nourish your lawn, it also helps to limit perennial lawn weeds and moss.

Planting Out – Future Proofing

April and into mid-spring is a great time to plant new roses, young trees, shrubs and your favourite perennial, flowers. It’s also a great time to look for low-maintenance outdoor plants and harden off and prick out any semi-hardy annual seedlings, you started in early spring, and pot them up.

Sow Vegetables & Salad Crops & Order Annual Bedding Plants

April is a good time to start batches of tender vegetable and salad seeds in cold frames, propagators or on raised tables in your greenhouse.

Order annual plants like geraniums, begonias, and petunias online for colourful summer bedding and hanging basket displays.

Clean Greenhouse Glazing

If you haven’t already done so, tackle some larger garden jobs to do in spring. You’ve been putting off giving your greenhouse a thorough scrub? It’s a simple job to do with a bucket of hot soapy water. Cleaning the glazing gets rid of mould, pests, and disease. It also allows more light in for your plants to use for energy.

Garden Jobs To Do In Spring – May

May should see the last risk of frost, making it a great time to prune and cut back old growth on spring flowering shrubs after they flower.

Garden jobs to do in spring can be enjoyable. The weather should be getting warmer by May, so you can see your hard work rewarded with a nice cold drink, maybe even crack out the BBQ.

1. Clip back any box hedging with sharp and precise hedge shears such as the Kent & Stowe lightweight precision hedge shears.
2. Keep mowing your lawn regularly, gradually lowering the settings to the summer height. Leaving grass slightly longer helps it cope better during dry periods.
3. If you haven’t already fed your lawn, give it a boost with a 4-in-1 lawn feed and repeat feeds every 4-6 weeks depending on the conditions through to September.
4. Using a Kent & Stowe Edging Iron or Edging Shears will really sharpen the edge of your lawn and make your patio and pathways really “pop”. A neat appearance is important if you want to impress your visitors as they arrive.

After the last frost

Once the last frost risk has passe, it’s garden jobs to do in spring o’clock. Now is a great time to plant out flowers such as dahlias as well as bring any tender shrubs out of storage.

By now you should have your summer bedding plants in or ready to transplant with a transplanting trowel. Your vegetable seeds, like beetroots and cut and come salad crops can be sown in batches to give you a continuous supply throughout the summer months and beyond.

Once the grass is showing visible signs of growth. Continue to mow and feed it. Once your lawn is growing, it’s a good time to look to scarify to remove any dead grass, thatch, and moss to encourage new, strong growth. If your lawn has any bare patches, a top dressing with screened topsoil and overseeding with new grass seed can give great results. There are so many jobs to do in spring, it’s a great time of year to get out in the garden and enjoy the great outdoors.