It’s finally getting to the stage where you can actually get out into the garden, but it’s hard to know where to begin. Our spring task list takes into account the Irish weather, and the fact that no matter how careful you are, there can always be a late frost that will wreak havoc on plants that are only newly bedded in.
1: Take Stock & Inspect
The first thing to do is work out what needs doing. On a reasonably warm day, bring a notebook or your phone out, and look around the garden. You’re looking particularly for cold, ice or snow damage on plants, especially where they’re leaving gaps in hedges or treelines. While we haven’t had anything comparable to Storm Éowyn in 2025, there’ve still been plenty of trees down from lesser storms, and you’ll need to replace those. Various beds will need to be cleaned out, and there will be hardware elements such as walls, fences, benches, sheds, trellises, paving stones and kerbing that have had something unfortunate happen to them. And look especially for gaps in fencing that need to be repaired, because before you plant anything, you need to know that rabbits, sheep, or other nuisances won’t get in and eat your new additions.
2: Fix the Hardware
Once you have your list (or a series of pictures on your phone, if that works better for you), the hardware is the first part. In some cases, you’re going to have to replace things. In others, they just need to be moved back into place, shored up, or have a few extra nails or screws put in. Others will need a new coat of paint (or stain, or other weather treatments). And some things just need clearing out – raised beds will have built up some level of twigs and stray leaves, gutters will be jammed with stuff that blew in, and if you have drains or ditches, there could be anything in there. Also check over your garden tools – it’s immensely frustrating to find, just as you start to dig, that the spade handle cracked over the winter.
3. Clear the Decks
In a similar vein, there’ll be other stuff knocking around in the corners, on the lawns, and in between the patio stones. A few passes to pick up junk can do a lot of good, and then you can use a rake – carefully! – to pick out the last bits and pieces. Ponds and other water features should also be cleaned out, and if you haven’t already got a ramp or a branch in each of them, this is a good time to add one – plenty of wildlife can swim, but if the sides of your water feature are too steep, they can’t actually get out of the pond if they fall in.
4. Test, Feed and Compost
You can get soil testing kits from most garden centres, and they’ll tell you things you didn’t know. An unmodified garden (particularly in Ireland, where we have deep beds of well established soil in most places), of course, isn’t going to go from acid to alkaline, but if you’ve been applying compost or other feeds for a few years, it’s amazing how much difference it can make. Once you know what needs you have to address, you can apply the right feeds and composts. Again, it’s good to get this stuff in before you do any planting.
5. Divide Perennials
If you have perennial plants that are doing well – not shrubs, trees or hedging, though! – they can often benefit from being divided. This is where you essentially split the set of plants in two, and move one set to somewhere new. That might only be a short distance, or it might be the far side of the garden or into a pot. Most perennials will benefit from this – the plants left in the original space will expand into conditions you know are good for them, and you get some effectively new plants for free. You can read more about dividing perennials here [https://www.bordbia.ie/gardening/the-irish-garden-how-to-series/dividing-herbaceous-perennials/], including which not to divide.
6. Plant Containers and Borders
With all that done, you can now get to the best bit of spring work – planting up new containers and borders. Pay attention to the needs of each plant as you put it in, whether it needs full sun, partial shade, or complete shade, and also how big it’s going to get. You don’t want a full bed suddenly shaded when a new plant shoots up to two metres, covering everything behind it. Take account of existing trees and hedges, too, particularly if they’ve gone in in the last few years, as they’re still growing, and will shade new areas this year.
7.Watch the Weather
April and into May are still very changeable parts of the Irish climate, and we often get more frosts these days in what’s nominally spring than we do during the winter. Clear skies which lead to warm sunny days can also mean that temperatures drop fast at night. Most plants will harden off reasonably quickly, and will cope with an air frost or two, but if the forecast is for a hard frost, or if there’s a particularly sensitive plant, you can use fleece overnight, or move containers into a porch or greenhouse. Don’t bring them indoors entirely, though; the shock of inside temperatures won’t do them any good either!
