Nine quick weekend jobs

These speedy fixes will still give you time to put your feet up and enjoy the holiday

1 Plant perennials for colour and to create a border framework. Small plants are cheap and will soon grow. Plant at the same depth as they were growing before and water well. Then keep free of weeds and pests.

2 Feed fruit trees and bushes with granular fertiliser, then water it in and mulch with well-rotted manure or garden compost. This should set them up for the year, though keep an eye out for pests and diseases.

3 Last chance to plant summer bulbs for this year’s display. Set them at 2-3 times their own depth, a bulb’s width apart in a sunny, fertile site. Some varieties, such as anemones and ranunculus, need soaking first.

4 Designate a patch of lawn to grow wild to attract bees, other insects and wildlife. If you are planning a wildflower meadow, try plug plants for quicker results then seed (ours came from meadowmania.co.uk 0800 0854399).

5 Birds and hedgehogs will be busy nesting and breeding so make sure they always have fresh food and water. Never gives hogs mealworms or milk as they cause serious, even fatal, health problems.

6 Tackle garden maintenance if the weather stays dry. Sand down then mend, preserve or paint woodwork including doors, fences and furniture and give metalwork a lick of protective paint too.

7 Mow the lawn when it is dry, keeping your blades high to avoid scuffing up the soil. Create sharp border edges to make it neat, remove large weeds and don’t forget to buy next week’s AG for all your spring lawn tips.

8 It is warm enough now to sow hardy annuals direct, and they are a brilliant way of filling gaps. It’s also time to plant onion and shallot sets for this year’s crop (I have added a few extra to fill gaps among our autumn plantings).

9 Keep hard surfaces swept and scrubbed clean to remove slippery algae and places where pests and disease can lurk. Check for problems and set beer traps for slugs determined to tuck into tender new plantings.