10 Tips to Get Your Garden Ready for the Spring Season

So with a new growing season upon us. Are you ready to get the most out of your garden?

Get to the root of the weeds!

Whether you have leftover weeds from last year or newly sprouted weeds after the recent wet weather. Get rid of them now while the grounds still soft. They will be easier to uproot than in the hard summer soil. Uproot them before they get a chance to grow deeper roots and definitely remove them before they have a chance to seed.

Remove any dead perennial leaves

If you haven't already cut back your perennial flowers from last Autumn, clip off all that brown foliage immediately. This will clear the way for this year’s growth, which will be coming up shortly. If you see that any perennials have worked their way out of the ground due to the winter frost and thawing, bed them back down so that their roots are not exposed. Give them a good watering and add three to five centimetres of mulch around them.

Get your beds fertilised

After the ground has thawed out, get some granular fertiliser around the base of all your trees, perennials and shrubs. Match up the particular product to the plant-type and add any nutrient detailed by a soil test.

Prune the blooming flowering shrubs

Early spring is the time to prune shrubs that are flowering from late June through to Autumn. This includes Butterfly bush, Abelia, Beautyberry, Clethra (Summer sweet), Caryopteris, Panicle Hydrangea, Smooth Hydrangea, Rose of Sharon, St Johnswort, Crape Myrtle, Summer-blooding Spirea and Vitex. These bloom on wood that grows in the current season so there is no danger of cutting off the flower buds from the previous year. After flowering, you can prune spring-blooming shrubs – such as Azaleas, Rhododendrons, Weigelas, Forsythia, Viburnum and Lilac.

Check shrubs and trees for winter damage

Prune off dead, broken, storm damaged branches. Snip the tips off the evergreens that may have suffered tip diebacks from the recent winter cold weather.

Rake away any matted leaves

Leaves that have been blown around or under trees, perennials or shrubs can be left and then mulched over (as long as there are only a few). However, matted leaves should either be blown or raked off the lawn and away from evergreen ground cover beds so that these plants can get the maximum amount of daily sunshine.

Divide your perennials

Before the new growth begins is the perfect time to dig and divide most of your perennial flowers that are growing way beyond where you'd like them. Then, replant the divided clumps as soon as possible, and then water them in their new setting. Give any leftover pieces away to fellow gardeners or compost any excess – with the exception of early-season perennials that are already blooming – or that are budding and ready to bloom any minute. Divide these after bloom or in early Autumn.

Problem prevention

Ensure you feed your lawn with the appropriate lawn feed and also use granular weed preventer on your garden beds. Remember if your lawn has dandelions you may need to feed your lawn.

Remove any winter protection

As frost is highly unlikely now, remove wraps, burlap barriers and any other protective material from around the plants that needed the extra protection in the winter months. Remove any staking from any new trees as long as they have been in the ground for more than a year.

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