Spring is officially here though for most of us, the advent of spring came last month. While cooler inland areas will continue to get a few frosts, in coastal areas we would be unlucky to get frosted now.

• A reminder to hard prune rhododendrons (including vireyas) now if you are planning to do so. Don’t delay. Prune, feed, mulch then cross your fingers and hope.
• If you have had enough of winter pruning, you can lift and divide dahlias now. In colder parts of the world, these get lifted every year and wintered under cover but here we tend to plant them once and leave them. Overcrowding can cause the plants to fall apart in full growth so thinning out the tubers every few years is helpful.
• If you haven’t lifted and divided evergreen grasses, at least give them a brush up to take out the unsightly build up of dead foliage in the middle. You can use a sturdy leaf rake, small fork or your hands – but if you are using your hands, wear gloves to avoid leaf cuts (the equivalent of paper cuts.)
• There is an open verdict here as to whether the failure of daffodils to flower is due to growing them in ground which is too fertile (so they put on lots of leaf and no flower – also a sign of too much nitrogen in the ground) or whether it is the effect of the narcissus bulb fly laying its eggs in the crowns of the bulbs last year. If you find hollowed out and rotting bulbs at any stage, or if you dig them when dormant and find large white maggots in the centre, then you have narcissi fly in your garden. They are difficult to beat, though I have seen Mark, like his father before him, stalking them in the rockery.
• Potatoes, peas and carrots can all be sown directly into the vegetable garden. It is the very last chance for onions, be they red, brown or shallots, if you want a good crop. Last chance also for garlic. Green crops must be dug in now to give them time to start breaking down before the Great Labour Weekend plantout. Experienced veg gardeners are starting with seeds of summer crops such as tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins and the like to get a jump start but you do have to sow these in trays and pots and keep them under cover for a while. Inexperienced gardeners will probably buy the baby plants they need from the garden centre late next month.
• Early aphids are appearing already. Get onto them early with pyrethrum or an organic soap spray to avoid an exponential population growth. Flyspray does at a pinch. It is pyrethrum based though made synthetically these days rather than from the daisy. Dead head hellebores to stop the aphids setting up home in the spent flowers.

• Members of the “Living Art” bonsai fraternity know that early spring is a critical time for repotting many of their little treasures. Bonsai is a highly specialized area of plant management and if you want to know more and to see how it is done, they will be at Cedar Lodge Nursery on Egmont Road all day this Sunday from 10.00am to 4.00pm. This is a particularly good hobby for those people who can not have outside gardens for whatever reason. Generally you can take your bonsai collection with you when you move.
• If you are not into bonsai, you should still be heeding the advice to see to container plants at this time of year. It gives them time to settle in before summer. Trees and shrubs in containers should generally be repotted every two years. If you have them in rather small pots or slightly tortured states, repot annually to keep the plant healthy. For trees and shrubs, buy decent potting mix with controlled release fertiliser. Keep the cheap stuff for annuals. You get the quality you pay for with potting mixes and they are by no means all equal.
• If you are not repotting your plants this year, feed them. Remember more is not better. Follow the recommended dosage rates, erring on the conservative side. Too much fertiliser can burn the plant.
• The rule of thumb for fertilizers is that the expensive controlled release ones (mostly the coated balls of the Osmocote, Nutricote, Acticote type) are designed for container plants but cover them under the top layer of potting mix for maximum effect. Slow release fertilizers are primarily designed for topdressing container plants. These are different to controlled release and usually come in powder form. We favour one we buy in commercial quantities as Triabon (also known as Compo) which we call magic dust – albeit expensive magic dust. We only use it on containers for a three month topdressing feed. There are other brands which will be comparable – seek advice from your local garden centre but you need to understand a little first so you are buying the right fertiliser for the right use.
• The cheap and cheerful types like Nitrophoska Blue, blood and bone or Bioboost are what you use to broadcast all over the garden where exact measurements are not needed. Liquid fertilizers are used for hanging baskets and pots of hungry annuals or top dressing fast growing vegetables where you want a quick feed and you are watering often. Compost tea, worm farm product, seaweed mixes – these are all in the quick feed liquid application group and you use them up to once a week.
• If you plan hanging baskets for summer, get them planted up now. Don’t hang them in the full sun to start with.
• It is still pruning, feeding, lifting and dividing, mulching and planting time in the ornamental garden.
• At this time of the year, fruit and vegetable prices tend to soar. It is all about supply and demand. As quick turnaround crops to keep the food bills down, sprout beans at home and sow micro greens in seed trays. Swathes of parsley are a versatile standby at this time and will keep scurvy at bay.
• If you are planting peas, the pesky sparrows may beat you to the germinating shoots unless you drape some temporary netting to discourage them. Peas can be sown on a regular basis to get continual harvests in a 90 days time.
• New potatoes can be planted now in all but the coldest areas. Last call for planting garlic.