Get Your Garden Ready for Spring with These 6 Tips

The days are getting longer, and the warmth of spring is right around the corner. If your green thumb is already itching to get back out into your garden, good news—you don’t have to wait. 

There’s plenty you can do now to get your garden ready for the new growing season and make sure it beautifully comes back to life. Here are six tips to help you get your garden ready. 

1. Order your bulbs and seeds

First thing’s first, it’s time to order your summer-flowering bulbs and seeds. This is a perfect job to do on a chilly, rainy day as it involves planning out which flowers you want to include in your garden. Flowers like gladioli and lilies are ideal for early-spring planting so if you haven’t ordered these yet, now is your chance. 

2. Tidy up your flowerbeds

Once the weather is nice enough to venture outside so you can do some actual work in your garden, the next step is to clean up your flowerbeds and remove any debris that’s collected over the winter months. Pull every weed you can find, rake up any dead leaves and clear away any fallen sticks or other debris. If you haven’t already cut back old dead growth from your perennials last fall, clip away all the brown foliage now to clear space for new growth come spring. 

If you have any shrubs or trees in your yard, now is also an excellent time to inspect them for winter damage and remove any broken, dead or storm-damaged branches. If you have evergreens, cut off the tips that died or were damaged from the winter frost. 

3. Fertilise your flowerbeds

When the ground has thawed, it’s time to apply some fertiliser to ensure your flowers will grow big and healthy. A granular fertiliser should be spread around trees, shrubs and perennials, but be sure to match the fertiliser type and strength to the plant to avoid damage. If you’re unsure what kind of nutrients your plant needs, you can do a quick soil test to check. 

4. Add something new

While you’re planning your garden and cleaning it all up, why not take the opportunity and add something new this year? Maybe you’ve been thinking about adding in some garden lights or even installing a water feature to turn your garden into an oasis. If you’re considering the addition of a water feature to your garden, water-garden.co.uk has lots of options. 

5. Divide your perennials

The ideal time to divide your perennials is right before new growth sprouts up from the ground. Go ahead and dig up your flowers if they’re growing in areas you don’t want them to, like if they’re reaching and spreading outside of your garden area or crowding into other flowers. You should replant the divided plants as soon as possible and then give them a good watering. If you have early-season perennials that have already started blooming, it’s best to wait until after they’ve bloomed to divide them. 

6. Clean and sharpen your tools

Another quick chore you can get out of the way that will help you prep for spring is to clean and sharpen all your gardening tools. Maintaining your tools will help preserve them and curb the spread of plant disease. To clean them thoroughly, use a strong detergent with hot water and scour the blades.