- Start mowing at least once a week.
- Tie in climbing and rambling roses.
- Feed and water houseplants more often now they’re actively growing.
- Split overgrown bamboo – you’ll need a sharp spade and an old saw.
- Stake tall perennials such as delphiniums and sunflowers with ‘grow through’ supports.
- Create new container displays and water well in dry spells.
- Sow half-hardy bedding plants in seed trays or cell trays undercover. If there’s space, pot plug plants into larger pots – cheaper than buying bigger pot plants in a month’s time.
- Plant up summer baskets and grow undercover before positioning in late May.
- Clear out ponds: take out planting baskets and fish (keep in buckets of old pond water), bail out the water, remove sludge and refill. Rainwater is best, but let tap water stand for a week before putting fish back in.
- Plant new pond plants using special pond baskets from garden centres.
- Last chance to create new lawns using turf without a sprinkler.
- Deadhead spring-flowering bulbs.
- ‘Earth up’ potatoes when shoots are 15cm tall.
- Sow rocket, cut-and-come-again salads, summer lettuce, beetroot and carrots in shallow drills (trenches) outside.
- Sow winter brassicas outside. Thin and space seedlings to the correct distance when three leaves have grown.
- Protect tender vegetables from late frosts – keep horticultural fleece on standby.
- Watch out for early pests and diseases – hit them hard now to avoid problems later on.
- Sow tomatoes, runner beans, basil, green pepper, marrow, courgettes and sweetcorn in individual modules undercover for planting after the frost.
- Use fine Environmesh to protect young carrots from carrot root fly.
