Jobs to Tackle in the Garden Before Spring Arrives

Make the Most of Dry Days

Winter in the UK rarely offers perfect conditions, so when a dry, frost-free spell arrives, treat it as a gift. The most valuable thing you can do is prepare soil without compacting it. Stay off wet ground, work from a plank or board to spread your weight, and only fork over beds that crumble rather than smear. If the soil sticks to your boots, wait.

On beds that are workable, tickle the top 5cm with a hand fork, remove weeds and any stones, then lay a 5cm mulch of well-rotted manure or garden compost. Worms will pull it down over the coming weeks, improving structure and feeding the soil life beneath.

In small spaces, refresh rather than dig. Scrape the top 5–8cm of spent compost from containers and raised beds and replace it with fresh material, or mix in a couple of handfuls of compost per pot. Clear soggy paths, check that drainage holes are free, and lift pots onto feet or bricks so they do not sit in standing water. If you want to get ahead, cover a bed with black polythene or a cloche for two or three weeks to warm the soil before sowing.

Prune Winter Shrubs and Dormant Trees

Dormant season is the safest time to reshape deciduous plants, when the structure is visible and sap is not rising. Sharpen your secateurs and loppers first — clean cuts heal faster.

• Winter jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum): once flowering finishes, cut flowered shoots back to the framework, tying in new growth as you go.
• Buddleia (Buddleia davidii): hard prune to 30–60cm in late February or early March for strong new stems and bigger blooms.
• Dogwood and willow: coppice coloured-stem varieties down to 5–10cm to keep that fiery winter bark vivid next year.
• Apples and pears: remove dead, damaged and crossing branches, then shorten side shoots to encourage fruiting spurs. Avoid pruning in hard frost.
• Blackcurrants: take out up to a third of the oldest wood at ground level to keep bushes productive.
• Wisteria: shorten side shoots to two or three buds now to control growth and improve flowering.

Leave spring-flowering shrubs such as forsythia, lilac and Philadelphus alone until after they bloom — they flower on last year's wood, and early pruning costs you a season of colour.

Tidy Beds Without Stripping Cover

A thorough tidy is satisfying, but resist the urge to clear everything. Hollow stems and seed heads feed birds and shelter overwintering insects, so leave a few standing if you can.

Cut back collapsed perennials and add the material to the compost heap unless it is diseased. Hellebores benefit from having old leaves removed now: it reduces leaf spot and reveals the flowers underneath. Hoe annual weeds on dry days while they are small, and edge beds with a half-moon spade for a crisp line that lifts the whole plot.

Late winter is ideal for dividing overcrowded perennials and lifting snowdrops "in the green" straight after flowering, while the leaves are still active. Replant at the same depth, water in, and mulch around — but never over — the crowns.

Repair Structures and Sharpen Your Kit

Fix things now, while the garden is quiet and you are not distracted by sowing. Walk the boundary and check fence panels, posts and trellis. Replace rotten timber and re-fix loose boards on raised beds before the growing season fills them.

In the greenhouse, replace cracked panes, secure clips and add bubble insulation if you are raising early crops. Ventilate on mild days to reduce damp and disease. Wash pots and seed trays in hot soapy water, rinse well, and disinfect any trays that held diseased plants last year.

Sharpen hoes, spades and secateurs with a file, then wipe metal with an oily rag. Set out plant supports and netting early, before stems grow through them. Check water butts and guttering for leaks, and take stock of compost and seed before you order more.

Start Chitting Potatoes and Sow Under Cover

Chitting gives first earlies a head start. Stand seed potatoes in egg boxes or trays with the rounded "rose" end uppermost, in a cool, bright, frost-free spot — around 10°C is ideal. In four to six weeks you want short, stubby, dark green shoots, roughly 1–2cm long. Rub off any long, pale, spindly growth, and knock off all but the strongest two or three shoots if you want larger potatoes.

Plant out when the soil has reached about 7°C, usually late March in the south and mid-April further north, earthing up as shoots appear to protect them from frost.

Under cover, sow hardy salads, spinach, broad beans, sweet peas and onions in modules or trays. A cold frame or unheated greenhouse suits these; tomatoes, peppers and aubergines need gentle heat and good light, so hold off until late February or March. Resist sowing too early — weak light produces leggy, sulking seedlings that never quite catch up.

Woodland and Shade Gardening

Woodland plots have their own rhythm, and late winter is when they repay attention. Gather fallen leaves into a wire bin or bin bag punched with holes. Left for a year or two, they break down into crumbly leaf mould — the finest mulch you can give shade-loving plants, and a useful ingredient in seed compost.

Bare-root planting season is still open while plants are dormant, so get native trees and hedging in now: hawthorn, hazel, field maple, dogwood and guelder rose all establish well. Hazel can be coppiced on rotation for stakes and pea sticks. Mulch around new plantings with leaf mould, keeping it clear of trunks.

Under deciduous canopies, plant spring bulbs and woodlanders that flower before the leaf cover closes: hellebores, epimedium, wood anemone, hardy cyclamen, ferns and native bluebells. Improve thin woodland soil with compost, but leave some leaf litter undisturbed as habitat. Work with the shade rather than fighting it, and you will have a garden that looks after itself for much of the year.