Copyedit — spring gardening feature

The pull of that first really sunny spring day is almost magnetic: drawing you out, into the fresh air, with the apple blossoms and the tender green of new leaves. Warm enough to make lingering outdoors a real pleasure; cool enough to enjoy being active. It’s always a real sign of the seasons’ change when I can’t wait to dash out of the kitchen and eat my lunch on the garden bench. Warm enough to make lingering outdoors a real pleasure; cool enough to enjoy being active.

Optimising your garden

It’s then I might notice all the little outdoor jobs I could be doing instead of having to scuttle back inside. Like pegging up the duvet covers to flap on the line – I love burying my nose in line-dried washing with its almost honeyed scent. The sun will also help to bleach your linen and the breeze will ‘iron’ it so you don’t have to. A good thwacking on the line can shift the deep-down dust from floor rugs, too.

This is a great time to clean windows, to bring more light into your rooms and so you won’tdon’t have to feel guilty every time the sunlight shows up the collected grime. Do them now and you can relax about it for a month or two.

Wash down patios and decking,; clean the winter off your pots and freshen up the planting with primary-coloured anemones or delicate lilies of the valley.; Yougive lavender and rosemary plants a trim so they keep their shape and grow bushy, not straggly. This is the moment to get on top of the weeds before they rampage and swallow up your garden; it’s much easier to lift them when the soil is moist, and you can put them to good use - by eating them. could sit with a sketchbook and plan a cutting bed to bring armfuls of blue cornflowers, open-faced cosmos and friendly snapdragons into your home come summer.

This is the moment to get on top of the weeds, before they rampage and swallow up your garden. It’s much easier to lift them when the soil is moist. Give lavender and rosemary plants a trim so they keep their shape and grow bushy, not straggly. I once read, or heard, a lovely piece of advice: when planning your garden, position scented plants along the paths or by doorways. That way, you can run your hand through them and release a cloud of fragrance as you pass. InYou could sit with a sketchbook and plan a cutting bed to bring armfuls of blue cornflowers, open-faced cosmos and friendly snapdragons into your home come summer. my garden I have placed lavender along the new pathway, and can’t resist rubbing the leaves of our gnarled old rosemary bush as I head for the shed.