5 ways to prepare your garden for spring

Spring is that glorious time of year when your garden comes back to life after a long winter nap. The barren trees and wilting plants suddenly leap back to life with a dazzling display of colour and fragrance.

As anyone who’s ever tended to a garden knows, however, these things don’t all just happen automatically – you need to get your green thumbs out and put in some work.

Here are our top five tips for how to make your garden glow this spring.

Clean up

Spring cleaning isn’t just something you should be doing inside your house. Take it outside and do some weeding! Early spring is the best time to do this, as the weeds’ roots are still shallow. Make sure to add in a layer of mulch around trees to prevent further weeds that may grow in spring. To help deter pests and diseases, you can also:

• clean up any leaves or debris in the garden, including from drains
• clear borders and garden beds back to bare soil, and
• prune back dead or unwanted growth.

Order summer-flowering bulbs and seeds

A bit of pre-planning in spring can go a long way to making your garden the envy of your neighbours come summer time. Lilies, gladioli and ranunculi are all good flowers to plant seeds for in spring, and will provide your garden with plenty of colour.

Fertilise

Fertilising can encourage a garden to bloom and stay in good health. But be wary of any fertiliser that’s rich in nitrogen, which can do more harm than good, making your plants vulnerable to pests and fungi. Instead, use slow-release organic fertiliser or manure – cow or sheep manure works best. Your nostrils may not love it, but your garden will. A 5cm-layer of manure, compost or recycled green waste placed into empty garden borders can also work wonders for your plants.

Do some bug hunting

Removing hibernating bugs and other pests in very early spring, before they have a chance to wake up, will save you a world of pain come late spring and summer. Check the crowns of your perennial plants for any slugs, snails and aphid colonies that have been using them for winter shelter. Also keep an eye out for white-vine-weevil larvae, which can be found in pots, but more often than not hiding in your compost, munching on plant roots.

Set up a compost bin

Speaking of compost: if you don’t have yourself a good compost bin, now’s the time to set one up. The organic waste you cultivate into compost will be the kind of nourishing food your garden won’t be able to get enough of. A home-made compost bin can easily be constructed from timber, but for the less handy, you can also buy them ready-made. Pro tip: fill it with a mix of grass clippings, vegetable peelings, paper and woody prunings, making sure to turn the compost each month to aerate it.

Get cover inside and out

You may already know that Home and Contents Insurance can help you repair or replace lost or damaged items in your home – but did you know it can help take care of your garden, too? Home Building Insurance can include cover for plants and garden beds, as well as permanent fixtures like raised garden beds and fences. Contents Insurance can help you cover stuff like your gardening tools and outdoor furniture.

Explore Home & Contents Insurance

Read more:

• Ideas to bring a little Mediterranean influence into your garden
• How to make your yard a haven for native wildlife 
• Connect with your community through online study

Australian Pensioners Insurance Agency Pty Ltd (Apia) ABN 14 099 650 996 AR 239591 is an authorised representative of AAI Limited ABN 48 005 297 807 AFSL 230859 (AAI), the issuer of Home, Landlord, Car, Caravan, Motorhome, Boat, Travel & Compulsory Third Party Personal Injury (CTP) Insurance.

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