A busy Easter in the garden

Chocolate eggs can wait, there's work to do, says Ruth

- Ruth Hayes

Planting perennials and bulbs, cleaning and pest patrolling will keep me busy this Easter weekend

TO my mind, the Easter weekend whenever it falls is the unofficial start of the gardening year. The first bank holiday since the December festivities, its springtime arrival makes it perfectly placed to get the garden ready for the year ahead.

This year Easter comes relatively late, giving gardeners an advantage. Soil should be warm and workable and dampened by seasonal showers, making it welcoming for new plantings including summer bulbs.

On the other hand, it is also a boom time for weeds and pests, so make sure you add their removal to your list of weekend tasks.

If you are planting bulbs, as I will be doing, and you garden on heavy soil, dig in generous amounts of well-rotted manure and some grit first, to help open the soil and improve drainage, which reduces the risk of bulbs rotting.

If this isn't an option, most bulb varieties will grow well in containers.

As well as planting, the four-day weekend is the ideal time to get on with structural work, painting fences and sheds, adding a lick of varnish to wooden furniture and maybe treating decking with a non-slip preservative.

Dwarf potted raspberry needs topdressing

I'm using the weekend to lay a simple stepping stone path in the front garden where the postie is creating a well-worn trail over the lawn to the front door.

I'll place the paving stones on the grass, cut around them with a half-moon edging tool, then remove the grass and soil under them to create a 'nest slightly deeper than the stones.

Then I'll add a layer of sand and set the stones on top, making sure they lie flush with, or slightly below the surface of the lawn so they don't become a trip hazard or catch the blades of the lawnmower.