As the lighter nights and warmer temperatures draw closer, it’s an ideal time to get out into the garden and start preparing it for the rest of the year. Doing this could help you ensure that your garden looks fresher and more colourful, so that you, friends and family can enjoy it when the summer months arrive.
Read on to discover 10 important jobs you may want to consider doing as spring approaches.
1. Bring some colour into the garden
Spring is the time to use tulips, hyacinths and daffodils to bring some bold and vibrant colours to your garden after the dreariness of winter. If you didn’t plant bulbs back in the autumn, you can still pop down to your local garden centre and buy plants that could provide a show-stopping splash of colour this spring.
If you don’t have room for borders or beds, then containers and pots are a good way to brighten up the patio or terrace.
2. Give your patio a clean
The harsh winter months could have left your patio looking unloved and lacklustre. This means that a good job to do before the warm weather arrives is to spend time giving it a good clean and spruce up.
Start by sweeping up any old leaves and give it a jet-wash to get rid of the grime winter could have left in its wake and bring your patio back to its old glory.
3. Make sure that your mower is good to go
When the warmer temperatures arrive, it will be time to start thinking about your lawn. Before it’s time to start mowing the grass, you might want to check your lawnmower to make sure that it’s ready for the year ahead.
If you have a petrol mower, consider changing the oil, replacing the spark plug and cleaning the air filter. However your mower is powered, it’s probably a good idea to sharpen and balance the blades.
4. Fill your borders
As the longer, warmer days start to approach, your soil will also warm up. One job is to start thinking about filling your borders with a mix of hardy perennials such as globe thistles, fuchsias and echinacea.
5. Freshen up garden furniture
If your natural wood table and chairs are starting to look dull and faded, or the painted furniture is beginning to look its age, you might want to give them a refresh. One way you could do this is to use a power grinder or sander and take off those old layers of wood or paint and give them a fresh coat of varnish or paint.
This could reinvigorate your garden and outdoor space, and give your furniture a new lease of life.
6. Harden off tender plants
If you have been growing young plants indoors or in your greenhouse, it’s probably time to acclimatise them to life outside. The best way to do this is to place them outside during the day and bring them in at night for a week. Remember to keep them away from direct sunshine.
Then leave them outside all the time for the following week, with a night-time covering of fleece. Alternatively, place them into a closed mini greenhouse or cold frame at night for this week. Once this is done, they should be ready to plant.
7. Get ready to prune your roses and hydrangeas
Early on in spring is the best time to prune roses and hydrangeas, unless the latter are the climbing variety. Doing this encourages more prolific displays in summer, and helps keep them healthy as well.
Cutting back early flowering shrubs such as forsythia and winter jasmine once they have finished flowering provides them with as much time as possible to produce next year’s blossom.
8. Help the birds that visit your garden
Nesting and breeding can take its toll on many of our garden birds, which is why it’s important to provide them with a constant supply of nutritious, energy packed foods. The best food includes fatballs, seeds and nuts from a nut feeder, although take care not to leave out whole peanuts as these can choke fledgelings.
Furthermore, they will need clean water to bathe in and drink, so remember to refresh birdbaths and drinking stations daily. Also clean away uneaten food as this can attract rodents.
9. Do your bit for the hedgehog
Hedgehogs are now an endangered species, meaning that gardens are becoming increasingly important sanctuaries for them. When preparing your garden for the warmer months, you can give the hedgehog a helping hand by leaving a patch of garden to grow wild, as this provides them with somewhere to hide.
You can also help supplement their diets with meat-based pet kibbles or specialist hedgehog food that’s available from pet shops and garden centres. Avoid mealworms as they have little nutritional value and can cause a disease that weakens bones in hedgehogs.
Leave out fresh water and cut holes in your fence big enough for hedgehogs to pass through to forage and mate without needing to cross busy roads.
10. Deadhead daffodils and tulips
The early stages of spring is an ideal time to deadhead bulbs such as daffodils and tulips. Let the leaves die down naturally without tying or cutting them as this helps return energy to the bulbs for next year’s flowering. Removing the leaves hinders this process, meaning you’re not likely to get as many flowers next year.
Remember to water and feed the bulbs with fertilizer as they die back.
Get in touch
We hope this blog provides useful and helpful information if you’re looking to prepare your garden for 2023. If you want to spruce up your finances for the year ahead and beyond, please contact us on info@janesmithfinancial.com or call 01234 713131, we’d be happy to help.
Please note
This blog is for general information only and does not constitute advice. It should not be seen as a substitute for financial advice as everyone’s situation is different.
Please do not act based on anything you might read in this article. All contents are based on our understanding of HMRC legislation, which is subject to change.
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