Spring special: Gardening,

There’s no time to lose and the work you put in now will be richly rewarded

AT LAST it feels like spring. Bees hum in the blossom, garden centres buzz and new flowers open every day. It’s time to get busy, so here’s an action plan to help you ensure a productive and colourful summer.

1 WAKE up your soil. As the ground warms up, begin to cultivate your bare soil. In your veg plot turn it lightly using a fork or mechanical cultivator. Don’t dig deeply, but try to break down any clods and develop a workable seed bed.

In borders or flower beds, gently cultivate ground between the plants. Pull out any winter casualties and destroy unwanted seedlings and weeds now while they’re still small.

Don’t work on heavy soils until they’ve dried enough to avoid structural damage by compaction. Cultivate the top couple of inches and take care not to bring raw clay subsoil to the surface.

2 FEED — but only where necessary. Apply light dressings of general fertiliser such as Growmore or dried poultry manure pellets to ornamental beds and borders. I use minimal quantities — roughly a dessert-spoonful of pellets per square metre — scattered by hand.

Give hard-pruned roses and newly planted shrubs a single handful of bonemeal, scattered round the base. Established shrubs and trees won’t need feeding, neither will borders which have been well composted.

3 START your vegetables. In prepared ground sow seeds of carrots, turnips, beetroot, parsnips, spinach or chard. French and runner beans are safer if directly sown in late April or early May.

In a cold frame or greenhouse, sow tender outdoor crops — courgettes, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. If you prefer to buy those as plants, keep them somewhere frost-free until mid-May.

Know in advance how much space each vegetable needs and plant accordingly. For guidance, use a how-to book such as D.G. Hessayon’s The Vegetable Expert or get information at

4 BUY the right growing medium. If you plant containers, choose your potting compost carefully. Quality is variable, especially among peat-free products, so ask to see an open bag or try small amounts of different products until you’ve discovered which suits your needs best.

Once you’ve chosen, stock up with as much as you’ll need for summer. And remember that ordering online is a handy alternative to lugging heavy bags from local stockists.

5 SPRUCE up your lawn. Scratch up and re-seed bare areas. Use a wire rake to tease out moss and thatch on small lawns or a mechanical scarifier for large ones. If you want emerald green weedless perfection, apply a product such as Doff 3 in 1 Weed, Feed and Moss Killer or Evergreen Complete 4 in 1. Follow the instructions. But if, like growing numbers of gardeners, you prefer an eco-friendly lawn, recycle. Don’t feed, learn to love daisies and other lawn ‘ weeds’ and always mow with the grass box off. If the lawn becomes badly starved, spread a mix of sand and sieved compost thinly over the grass.

6 PLAN your summer containers. Clean up pots, tubs, hanging baskets and other containers ready for summer. If you plant any up with half-hardy plants, keep them frost free until mid-May. And if you have ordered tender young plants or plug plants, they must also be frost-protected after arrival.

7 PLUG the gaps. A gap is a planting opportunity, so fill space in your borders now. You can source plants from your own perennials — this is the time for dividing and re-planting — or try something new.

8 REMEMBER to enjoy it. Gardening is scientifically proven to benefit mind and body. But never let excess work spoil the pleasure and don’t fret if you can’t get everything done. Pause, instead, to hear the first cuckoo, spot early butterflies or smell the lilac. After all, that’s the whole point.