At home there are plenty of chores to carry on with to get the garden spruced-up for outdoor living as the days warm up.
Spring clean
Some readers will be tut-tutting to themselves as I say this, but scrub your paths and steps if they're a bit green. In the busy rush before our wedding our concrete pavers got a bit slimy from successive rainy days, and our poor neighbour slipped on the way to feed our cat when we were away, ending up in hospital. And paving that looks safe on a dry day can become a hazard after several days of rain. Use a chlorine-free path cleaner, or pour on boiling water with eco detergent and scrub with a stiff bristle brush. Even better, borrow a water blaster.
Fishy Business
The increasing light levels and warmth will also play havoc in ponds as green algae grows. Give ponds a good clean and a dose of barley straw extract to clear the green soup of microscopic algae. Follow up with beneficial bacteria to colonise your pond with the good guys. Remove dead leaves from pond plants.
Rainwater harvesting
If you don't have one already, invest in a rainwater collection system now to capture spring rain for your summer garden. Barrel systems are cheap and easy to set up and make the most of small spaces, and you can attach as many barrels together as you need.
Weed blitz
Nip weeds in the bud now - you'll thank yourself later if you do. The first flush of weeds when the weather warms can be overwhelming. Get in early before they take over or attempt to set seed. It is easy to weed while the soil is moist. Use this fresh green material as a hot layer in your compost bin.
Plot your veges.
Clear and weed last season's vege gardens and aerate by levering with a fork. Avoid digging in overly wet soil as this will spoil the structure. If you need to access the bed, use a plank to spread your weight. Chop up and dig in green manure crops - add a sprinkle of lime and basalt rock dust while you're at it. Incorporate compost and an organic mineral fertiliser. Plant broccoli, spinach, cabbage, and spring onions. Plant chitted seed-potatoes into trenches. Peruse seed catalogues on a rainy day and order some fun heritage varieties for your summer garden. Sow tomato and other summer vege seeds in punnets and keep in a warm spot such as a windowsill (or a cold-frame made with an old window), to be potted up and planted out later in spring.
Mulch 'n' feed
Spring is the best time to apply mulch around trees and perennial beds. Your garden will be more drought-tolerant in summer, and mulching reduces the need to weed. Avoid piling mulch up against tree trunks. The mulch will eventually break down into the soil just like compost for plants during their peak growing times. As woody mulch breaks down, there can be a temporary nitrogen deficit in the soil. Before mulching perennials, dig in a nitrogen source such as a thin layer of bokashi (not too close to plant roots) or sprinkle blood and bone or aged/composted chicken manure to balance the carbon. Applying mineral-rich Environmental Fertilisers' organic fertiliser is a good plan to enrich the soil with the addition of beneficial micro-organisms. After months of winter rain soils can become a little more acidic, so a sprinkling of dolomite lime won't go astray.
Pruning Push
Finish the last of your winter pruning on a clear dry day - grapes, canefruit, pipfruit and stonefruit and summer-flowering shrubs such as hydrangea can be cut back by a third to healthy fat buds if you didn't prune them in autumn. A third of the old canes should be removed completely.
Pest Aversion
Dispatch overwintering tiny sucking pests by liberally spraying Kiwicare's organic super spraying oil or Aquaticus Glow to the undersides of citrus and camellia leaves and other shrubs prone to attack. Sprinkle Quash eco snail bait around new seedlings, Rengarenga lilies, and the emerging buds of clivia and spring bulbs.
