As winter draws to a close, it’s time to revitalise your garden and get ready for the forthcoming warm, sunny days. There are many things you can do right now to get your garden ready for spring and promote new growth, blooms, and a thriving vegetable garden.

These include chores like trimming and repotting plants, feeding, weeding and mulching.

In this article, we’ll go over four important household gardening tips for spring to get your yard and garden in tip-top shape.

1. Fertilise your garden.

Now’s the time to fertilise your garden. Australian soils generally have a high salt content, are low in nutrients, and of poor quality. Therefore, some soil preparation is necessary prior to fertilising.

Before planting anything, dig the ground and add some gypsum if the soil contains clay. To enrich the soil, it’s better to use manure, compost and mulch rather than inorganic chemical fertilisers. Since plants vary in their fertiliser requirements, you can use this rough guide:

• Vegetable patch (to be planted) – compost and manure
• Already-planted vegetables – water-soluble fertilisers
• Potted plants – liquid fertiliser (water-soluble powders or concentrates)
• Flowering plants (e.g., roses, citrus, orchids) – specialised fertilisers

2. Spruce up your lawn.

Aerate your lawn with a garden fork to help your grass grow. Apply a weed killer in the early spring to get rid of those bothersome bindii and broadleaf weeds. To keep the grass growing abundantly and discourage new weed growth, add some lawn fertiliser after a few weeks.

3. Start trimming and pruning.

Get rid of old, withered winter leaves by pruning your trees and shrubs. Hedge trimming will promote new and healthy growth. Summer flowering shrubs like hibiscus and hydrangea should be pruned now if you haven’t already done so. This way, all their energy will go into creating lovely blooms.

4. Get rid of pests.

Pests are a perennial nightmare for gardeners. Don’t let pests ruin your lovely garden by purchasing the best pest control supplies or making pest control solutions right at home.

As the weather warms up, aphids become active in the veggie patch or on new rose growths. Psyllids can also appear on the new growth of lilly pillies and need to be controlled to prevent them from spreading. Use a garden insecticide to keep these pests in check.

You can also plant to attract helpful garden insects, which will then consume pests and spare you from the need to use chemical pesticides. Examples of beneficial insect-attracting plants include dianthus, bok choy, endives, French marigold, cornflowers, nasturtiums, green amaranth, mustard, sweet basil, pumpkin and winter melon.

Depending on the size and condition of your lawn and garden, there’s bound to be more gardening tasks to take care of.

However, this checklist of household gardening tips for spring should be enough to get you on the right track.

If this article has inspired you to think about your own unique situation and, more importantly, what you and your family are going through right now, please contact your advice professional.

(Feedsy Exclusive)