Our 10 Top Tips How to Prepare Your Garden for Spring

 

With the days getting slightly longer and temperatures starting to rise, there are some clear signs that winter is finally drawing to a close. And if you’ve been suffering withdrawal symptoms from lack of gardening, the great news is that there’s no need to wait a moment longer to get yourself back outdoors. That’s because there are some extremely important jobs you can carry out right now to start preparing your garden for spring.

Pre-Spring Gardening Tips

Here, we focus on 10 of these key garden prepping tasks, which you should carry out over the next few weeks to start getting a garden ready for spring. Some of these jobs will pay immediate dividends, while others will help you lay the groundwork for many months and years of fruitful gardening to come. So, if you’re in the mood for getting garden plants ready for spring and other uplifting activities, please read on…

(1) Divide Snowdrops

Once they cease flowering, use a spade to lift clumps of snowdrops from the soil. Choose a day when the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged, and be sure not to insert the spade too near the clump or you risk damaging the bulbs.

As soon as you have a clump out of the ground, prize it apart with your hands. Keep the leaves intact but remove any weeds and damaged bulbs. Then separate it into smaller groupings, which you can replant in different areas of your garden.

Voila, you’ll get to enjoy a far more extensive display of snowdrops next year, completely free of charge.

(2) Buy or Make a Composter

If you don’t already own one, now is a great time to buy or make a compost bin. You can immediately start filling it with things like vegetable peelings, coffee grounds and paper-based materials. As they become available, add grass cuttings and other organic matter from your garden too.

As this mix breaks down, it will produce nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, which are all very important nutrients that improve the quality of your soil. Not only will this compost benefit your plants, it will also help reduce the waste you send to landfill and lower your carbon footprint.

(3) Flower Bed Preparation Spring

Firstly, remove fallen leaves and other debris from your flowerbeds and borders, as they can harbour pests and spread disease. Remove any weeds by the roots, to prevent them regrowing, and cut back herbaceous perennials. As long as it isn’t diseased, you can then put all this dead organic matter into your compost bin.

Afterwards, turn the soil and add a decent layer of mulch to help it retain moisture, This is the perfect garden soil preparation for spring, when the weather gets warmer and drier.

(4) Repot Deciduous Trees and Shrubs

While they are still dormant, repot any deciduous trees and shrubs that have outgrown their existing containers. The day before transferring them to their new homes, water the soil around the tree/ shrub to ensure its roots are moist. This will reduce the stress it suffers while being moved.

If you’re transferring it to a larger pot, choose one that is no more than a third bigger than the existing container. This will avoid the dangers of overpotting. If you are planting the tree or shrub in the ground, dig a hole in advance so you can put it straight into the soil. Should the ground be frozen or waterlogged, postpone this job until the weather has improved.

(5) Winter Pruning

The end of February is a sensible time to prune both winter-flowering shrubs and deciduous plants. Regarding the latter, because they are still dormant, they will suffer less stress from being cut and so heal quicker. And as the weather is still quite cold, there should be fewer pests in the garden, meaning less risk of the plants contracting diseases.

What’s more, without foliage, it is far easier to spot the crossing stems and damaged parts of the plant that need removing.

Plants that you should prune at this time of year include rose bushes, dogwood, buddlejas, wisteria, and hydrangeas. In the case of hydrangeas, as winter is coming to a close, the new buds shouldn’t be overly exposed to extended periods of frost.

And should you need any new pruning tools, you’ll find some absolute beauties amongst our Hand Tools and Pole Pruners for sale.

(6) Sow Seeds

Even though spring is still a few weeks away, there’s nothing to stop you sowing seeds, providing they’re undercover. This will allow you to enjoy a longer growing season and give certain plants a much better chance of producing bumper crops, later in the year.

You can sow a wide range of seeds, from peppers to petunias, in trays on the windowsill. Keep the soil moist, without saturating it, and rotate the trays at intervals to prevent the seedlings leaning towards the light. Then, once the risk of frost has passed, it’s time to move them outside.

Also, why not invest in a heated propagator and grow lamp, so you can sow seeds early outdoors too?

(7) Get Machinery Serviced and Tools Sharpened

Getting your garden machinery serviced optimises its performance, improves its reliability, and increases its lifespan. In many cases, having proof of annual servicing also extends the product’s warranty. So, as you’re sure to be using it very soon, make this one of your top priorities.

In a similar vein, you should also put aside some time to clean and sharpen your gardening tools. Not only will this help maintain them, it will reduce the risk of them spreading disease to your plants. Use hot water and detergent to clean your tools and, after sharpening the blades, apply oil to reduce friction and prevent corrosion.

Learn more about our garden machinery and repairs service here.

(8) Clean Your Greenhouse

In order to improve its levels of light transmission, you should clean your greenhouse’s glazing with lukewarm water and a mild detergent. Adding vinegar to the water can be useful if you need to remove grease.

Make a point of removing any moss, algae and grime from the inside of your greenhouse, as they can harbour pests that carry disease. Sweep the floor and clean out spare pots too. The overall aim is to give your greenhouse a thorough pre-spring clean, so that it offers new plants the perfect environment to prosper.

Then, once you’ve finished your work, be sure to open the greenhouse’s door and vents to properly air it.

(9) Check Garden Structures

Although the worst of the winter weather should now have passed, March often brings severe winds. Therefore, it makes sense to check that your shed, greenhouse and other garden structures are in good enough condition to withstand them.

Pay particular attention to your fencing, which is the most vulnerable structure of the lot. You should repair or replace any fence panels that have missing or damaged slats. Inspect the posts for signs of wear and decay too, as well as ensuring they are secured firmly in the ground.

Trust us, by conducting a walkaround inspection of your garden structures now, you will potentially save yourself a lot of expense if we experience high winds next month.

(10) Mow the Lawn

As the weather warms, grass is one of the first plants to regrow. So, by the middle of March, chances are that your lawn will need its first mow of the year. The best way to prep lawn for spring is by waiting until the grass is roughly three inches tall, and we’ve had a few consecutive dry days, before cutting it. (If you don’t do this, you risk scalping the lawn and compacting the soil.)

And with this first cut, don’t be too severe. Put the mower on its highest setting with the aim of removing about a third of the grass’s height. Anything more and you will stress it, leading to problems further down the line.

To help you achieve the best possible results, we stock an unbeatable range of lawnmowers for sale. And if you’ve decided that 2025 is going to be the year you join the robot mowing ‘revolution’, you’ll find the very latest robotic mowers here.

Get Garden Ready for Spring with Ron Smith

Whatever you’re doing to prepare your garden for spring, you’ll find all the garden tools and machinery you need here, at Ron Smith.

Being one of Britain’s most-trusted retailers of garden machinery also means we have an unrivalled level of expertise in this area. So, if you have any questions about the garden machinery that we sell, rest assured that we’re always on hand to help.