Spring garden jobs checklist
Ordered by how early it can be done. Resist the first warm weekend: cutting back too soon costs you the plants that were still asleep.
40 items
Makes your own editable copy. No account needed.
The items
- Tidy up
- Clear leaves from beds and gutters
- Cut back last year's dead growth, once frosts have passed
- Weed while they are small and the soil is soft
- Edge the lawn
- Clean the greenhouse glass
- Scrub pots and seed trays
- Turn the compost
- Soil and feeding
- Mulch the beds while the soil is dampMulching dry soil traps the dryness in. Do it after rain, not before.
- Compost or manure dug in where needed
- Feed roses, shrubs and fruit
- Top-dress pots and containers
- Lime or feed the lawn if it needs it
- Sowing and planting
- Sow indoors: tomatoes, chillies, sweet peas
- Sow direct once the soil warms: salad, radish, peas
- Plant summer bulbs
- Pot on anything root-bound
- Plant bare-root while it is still dormant
- Label everything — you will not remember
- Harden off before anything goes outside for good
- Pruning
- Roses, before growth really starts
- Late-flowering clematis
- Cut back dogwood and willow for coloured stems
- Leave spring-flowering shrubs until after they flower
- Check for nesting birds before cutting any hedge
- Kit and machines
- Service the mower before the grass needs cutting
- Sharpen and oil secateurs, shears and spades
- Check the hose and connectors for splits
- Water butt cleaned and the downpipe checked
- Restock string, canes, labels and gloves
- Check fences, gates and trellis after the winter
- Wildlife
- Clean the bird feeders and keep them filled
- Fresh water, kept topped up
- Leave one corner uncut
- Check the pond and clear any fallen leaves
Makes your own editable copy. No account needed.
Questions people ask
- When should I start work in the garden?
- Once the soil is workable and not frozen or waterlogged. The first warm weekend is always too early for anything tender, whatever the temperature says.
- What gets forgotten every spring?
- Servicing the mower before the grass needs it, and checking the water butt and hose before the first dry spell. Both are queues you can avoid entirely.