Top 10 ways to get your garden spring ready

There’ll be days this month when the wind and rain will make venturing out into the garden seem like way too much effort but, on those days when the sun shines and the temperatures start to rise, you’ll be chomping at the bit to get out there.  Here are some tips for what you can be doing then….

• Now is the time to chop down winter flowering dogwoods I.e. Cornus plants.  You can cut this down to within 10cm of the ground and it will sprout up again over the rest of the year.  Keeping it cut each year renews the vibrant winter stem colour.  
• Many deciduous grasses are cut down in February.  Evergreen grasses just need a light tidy up.
• Dig well rotted manure into the surfaces of your beds and borders.  Don’t forget to weed first!
• Look around and move any deciduous shrubs to new positions.  Take up as much of the rootball as possible when moving the plants.
• This is a great time to divide large clumps of herbaceous perennials into more manageable smaller clumps - you can use the free plants you create elsewhere in the garden or give a gift of a free plant to a friend!
• Elder plants (Sambucus) needs cutting down to the ground now to keep the size in check.
• Prune winter jasmine.
• Remove any tatty looking Hellebore leaves.
• Winter prune apple trees and pear trees.
• Start chitting potatoes in a bright, cool frost-free place.  I use old egg boxes - they make great containers.