Spring brings big plans and aching backs. Each March we call on gardens where eagerness outran order — beds turned in a rush, then left by midsummer. This schedule stretches the jobs over six weekends so your plot, and your back, finish the season smiling.
Weekends one and two: trim back and wake up
Reach for the secateurs before the seed packets. Snip last year's perennial tops down to fresh buds, lift and split crowded snowdrops while in leaf, and re-cut each bed edge — a sharp line makes even a scruffy border feel deliberate. Spread 5cm of compost over open soil and let the worms pull it down.
Weekends three and four: sow and settle in
Sow tough annuals such as calendula, nigella and cornflowers exactly where they will bloom. Set out shallots, onion sets and first early potatoes. Bare-root hedging still goes in well while the earth stays cool and damp — hornbeam, beech and mixed native rows take off swiftly now.
- Start tomatoes and chillies indoors on a sunny sill.
- Toughen up autumn-sown sweet peas before they move outside.
- Top-dress fruit bushes and give roses a balanced granular feed.
Weekends five and six: support, water, sit back
Fix stakes and hoops while shoots are short — threading them through a flopping delphinium later never works. Lay drip lines or seep hoses now, while the soil still shows. Then pause: pour something chilled, take a seat, and watch the new planting stir.
Rather hand the heavy weekends to us? Spring tidy calls begin at $75 an hour — reserve a slot before the diary fills.