Spring is also the time when you should start to prepare the garden for a fresh batch of plants, except of course, if you are in a very cold or frozen area. You should be warming up the soil with cloches or sheeting, preparing seedbeds, dealing with the soil by weeding, raking and sifting it to provide plants with the best chances of successful germination and growth and finally, pruning and mulching any fruit trees and bushes that are just waking up after winter.

You should rake any areas of soil that you have been warming up with cloches, breaking up any big lumps, until you end up with what is called a “fine tilth”. If the soil is too dry and dusty, you should water it, but if it clings to your boots then you should let it dry out a bit more before you rake it. After this has been done, it will be ready for seed sowing. If you are going to apply fertilizer, Spring is the best time to do it. You can choose to use organic fertilizers which may contain seaweed or manure or blood, fish and bone meal or you can use manufactured inorganic fertilizers which are made from minerals. Organic fertilizers can also be used to perk up winter surviving vegetables such as onions or cauliflowers. You should hoe regularly in order to clear out any weeds that may begin to germinate when the soil warms up from the sun and dig out any perennials such as couch grass or bindweed.

Runner beans and trench celery will both need a fertile piece of rich soil so that they can grow properly. A trench, 3ft wide and 1ft deep will need to be dug out and re-filled with compost. Before May or June, when the beans and celery need to be planted, the compost should have all rotted down to provide the nutrients and conditions that such plants require. You should remove any rhubarb protecting cloches that you have and with luck, the vegetable might be able to be harvested this month. Rosemary, sage and other perennial herbs should be given a good trim. Chives and mint should be dug up, divided and re-planted in order to give them better growing conditions. For overwintering plants, such as strawberries, cover them up with cloches in order to stimulate flowering, growth and the production of a crop. When the flowers have properly formed, remove the cloches on hot, sunny days so as to allow pollination from insects. You should also prune fruit bushes or trees, such as blueberries, gooseberries and blackcurrants, right the way down to the next healthy shoot. You should remove any damaged stems, especially ones that are diseased. Raspberry canes must be cut right down to the ground leaving about a foot of stem left.