Spruce Almighty

Prepare your outdoor spaces for warmer weather with our spring-clean guide so you can spend those endless summer days relaxing al fresco

- Carol Bucknell

It seems so far away, when skies are grey and it rains continually, but the sunshine will arrive before you know it, heralding lazy days and relaxing barbecues on the lawn or balcony. But the outdoors is less enjoyable when the sun umbrella is covered in mould, the outdoor furniture is grubby and the lawn is full of weeds. If this sounds like your place, don’t worry. Just follow our spring-clean checklist and your outdoor areas will be in tip-top shape in time for summer.

1 Lawn and order

Lawns can look tired after a cold, wet winter. To get your grass growing strongly this spring, give lawns a good feed and dig out or spray competing weeds such as paspalum, dock and dandelion. Some lawn products will feed grass and kill broad-leaved weeds at the same time. Fill gaps with handfuls of grass seed mixed with topsoil or another suitable growing medium. Boggy lawns are another issue at this time of year. You can buy purpose-built aerators or make your own by attaching a sharp spike to a pole. Think about putting in a mowing strip to give lawns a crisp edge, or use a trimmer to keep them tidy.

2 Seat wise