With spring fully underway, there are an increasingly large number of tasks that we should be getting on with. If you get anxious about what needs to be done in the garden – and I certainly get daunted sometimes by the amount of work to, there is a simple method that may work to get you going.

Make a list – this is my list for my garden. Why not make your own for your own garden?

Climbers

• Tidy up and tie in new shoots of climbers, especially clematis.

Creating new life

• Plant summer flowering bulbs.
• Sow hardy annuals, annual climbers and grasses.
• Keep planting and dividing perennials.

Maintaining the garden

• Look out for slugs and snails, in particular, protect young growth from their hunger.
• Manually remove annual weeds and dig out perennial ones.
• Deadhead daffodils.
• Apply synthetic fertilisers generally.
• Start tidying borders.
• Water new trees and shrubs if dry.

Perennials

• Divide perennials (and bulbs) and stake tall growing ones.
• Thin shoots on perennials.

Planting

• Plant shrubs, evergreen trees, evergreen hedges and trees.

Pruning (shrubs and trees)

• Prune early flowering shrubs, and those grown for their large and colourful foliage. In particular, prune Chaenomeles and Forsythias.

Most important task

• Sit and enjoy your garden.