Gardening Spring Clean-Up

Spring Garden Care Tips

By Lauren Smithson

In this blog post, Lawnmowers Direct has teamed up with me to bring you our top spring garden care tips.


It might feel a way off yet, but spring is just around the corner and it’s time to get prepared for the garden maintenance that you need to carry out throughout the season.

In this blog post, I’ve teamed up with garden tool specialists, Lawnmowers Direct, to bring you our top spring garden care tips. Read on to find out more.

Force your branches into bloom

Cherry blossoms in spring
Source: pixabay.com

Bring your branches into bloom at the earliest opportunity with this easy trick! Certain shrubs and trees can be forced to bloom, adding the first bursts of colour to your garden in spring.

The best plant types for spring pruning include:

  • Pussy willows
  • Forsythias
  • Mountain laurels
  • Fruit trees
  • Magnolias
  • Lilacs

Find out exactly how to force your plants into bloom on this blog post.

Get mulching

Wood chip mulch
Source: pixabay.com

Mulch is a covering material, such as bark, which can be placed on soil such as flower beds to help improve its quality and appearance. Mulching improves soil texture, suppresses weeds and helps retain moisture in the dryer months. 

You can get both biodegradable and non-biodegradable mulch. Biodegradable breaks down over time and includes wood chips and bark. Non-biodegradable mulch does not break down over time, such as slate or pebbles.

Check your soil pH

Seedling sprouting
Source: pixabay.com

If you want to give your plant life and lawn the best chances of looking good this spring, you need to take note of soil pH.

Soil pH is a numbered scale used to indicate how acidic or alkaline a solution or, in the case of gardening, soil is. Depending on where your soil sits on the pH scale, it can affect how your plants grow.

Measuring your soil pH regularly will give you an indication on whether you need to alter the pH with the addition of acidic or alkaline substances, such as limestone or sulfur.

Start cutting your lawn

Man pushing lawn mower.
Source: pixabay.com

It’s a common fact that you shouldn’t cut your lawn until the last hard frost of the winter has passed. But by the time spring blooms, you should be cutting your grass little and often to help promote growth and encourage thickening.

As well as regular lawn cutting, you should also carry out other lawn maintenance, like feeding, seeding and weeding. You can find out more about the particulars of caring for your lawn in spring here.


Spring is a season for growth in the garden. Follow these tips to make the most out of the period and get your outdoor space looking as good as it can be!

Garden writer and blogger, author of 65 gardening books, lecturer and communicator, the Laidback Gardener, Larry Hodgson, passed away in October 2022. Known for his great generosity, his thoroughness and his sense of humor, he reached several generations of amateur and professional gardeners over his 40-year career. Thanks to his son, Mathieu Hodgson, and a team of contributors, laidbackgardener.blog will continue its mission of demystifying gardening and making it more accessible to all.

2 comments on “Spring Garden Care Tips

  1. It is too late for us to force blooming stems, but not too late to cut some that are already blooming! We have some nice flowering cherries here!

  2. Pingback: Spring Garden Care Tips — Laidback Gardener – Ninnys Nest

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