Depending on the weather (of course), April brings marvellous blossom and the blossom-like to the garden and hedgerows. It brings the first signs of the fruit harvest to come with the flowers of apple and pear covering cordons and stepovers in my mini-orchard; an older, taller greengage tree spreads white froth over the shed; and there are petals of almost-red on a small cascading flowering cherry. All this is complemented by the white flowers of a fabulous Spiraea ‘Arguta’ and pink from a flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum), while tulips bring pops and spots of colour around the garden.

There’s plenty to admire in the beds and borders right now, but needless-to-say there is plenty of jobs to crack on with, so enough standing about!

A couple of quick jobs to warm up first. Stake herbaceous peonies which will be putting on plenty of growth now ready to flower in May and June – the big heads will topple over without support, especially if we get an April shower. Prune penstemons by making cuts just above fresh, new shoots at the base of the plant. If you can’t see any new shoots low down, cut just above the lowest set of leaves.

Early in the month is also a time to prune Hydrangea Macrophylla; the lacecaps and mopheads of the genus. I’ve never had much luck with growing these – or with pruning them – but I’m going to give it another go by pruning back to a healthy-looking bud or pair of buds. If the plant is well established, you could also cut out up to a third of the older, woody growth to make room for new. You can prune lavender now too, though I chopped mine back in the autumn after flowering. When you do, avoid going back into older wood but look for any new growth emerging from lower down the stems to show you how far back you could cut.

Take basal cuttings from perennials like delphiniums, dahlias, campanulas, asters and phlox by looking for shoots rising 10-12cm from the base of the clump and using a sharp knife to cut three or four as near to the base as possible. They don’t need to have root attached but if they do, they will establish more easily.

Remove any leaves that may be buried by compost and rot (killing your cutting) and pinch out the top to reduce moisture loss as the cutting roots. You can dip them in hormone rooting powder – although this isn’t necessary – and pop them at least 2.5cm deep around the edge of a pot of cutting compost.

Pop them in a propagator or under a plastic bag and mist occasionally. New growth will show you that the cuttings have rooted.

You can do this any time of year, but it’s a task that I only care to do a couple of times a year and I like to get it out of the way before I’m distracted by everything else: turn the compost. I have a pretty serious three bin system (and a mightier four bin system on the allotment that I share with a couple who are trying to corner the market in redcurrants and gooseberries). They’re not quite up to Monty’s standard but the three metre-squared bins need turning over.

Finally, a serious word about weeding. I know some of you love a dandelion and a couple of you (you know who you are) think bindweed brings a lovely splash of white to the border. But it’s time to untwine them from their chokehold on your roses, dig them out at the root, and chuck them on a bonfire or in the white sacks. It’s going to be weed, weed, weed for the next six months, so you might as well get used to it now.

So you’ve been putting off getting into the garden because it’s too cold, too wet or there’s too much Bridgerton to binge on Netflix? All valid reasons, but now you’re massively behind if you’re going to be ready for a relaxing Pimms on the lawn by summer. No pressure, but it’s spring, so time to get going.

March, with the spring equinox on 20 March and the clocks springing forward a week later (and a long Easter bank holiday the week after that) really marks the start of the gardening season and there’s plenty to do as things get growing.

It’s out with the old first: Narcissus (daffodils) will be going over, so deadhead by snapping off just behind the swelling seedpod at the top of the stem. Allow the foliage to die down naturally to feed the bulb for next year’s display. Take your shears to winter-flowering heathers, taking off the flowers and a little of the top growth so the plants don’t get leggy but bush out instead.

And then in with the new: as well as the catkins of hazel (Corylus avellana) and goat or pussy willow (Salix caprea), blossom will be on my Amelanchier lamarckii which usually looks incredible by the end of the month and the Aubrieta ‘Purple Cascade’ will be doing its stuff too. The bees appreciate the early bounty, and everything is starting to leaf up again.

With all this exuberance, get supports into the border now to encourage plants to grow up through them rather than try and force everything into better behaviour in the middle of summer. In one of my borders, I use a system of 6mm mild steel rods which rust beautifully (yes, they are a hazard, but what’s life without a little bit of risk while weeding the beds?) and weave a layer of string every 15-20cm up the rod. Plants then grow up through the strings.

Protect new-rising shoots from slugs and snails. Is anyone out in the dark picking them off by hand in torchlight? Not me, I chuck a few handfuls of grit around the plants I most want to save (usually my delphiniums and hostas) and leave everything else to fend for itself.

Divide clumps of perennials that are too large or those that spread outwards leaving a less productive centre. A couple of hostas are congested in their pots, so I tip them out, take a sharp spade and just slice through their tough roots to make plants the size of a side plate and replant. If the roots are fleshy and looser, you can probably prise them apart by hand. I’ve got wild primrose (Primula vulgaris) scattered throughout the garden and large clumps can be divided and replanted where they will continue to spread and push their soft yellow flowers up each spring.

Top-dress your pots by scraping out the top 2-3 inches of old compost and replace with fresh to revitalise with nutrients and fork it in with a handful of slow-release fertiliser too.

As you feed your containers, you can also feed trees, shrubs and hedges with a balanced fertiliser: scatter it over the root area and hoe or fork it into the soil. It’s particularly good for young, weak, damaged or heavily pruned plants, giving them a strengthening boost as we go into the season. Roses should be given a granular rose fertiliser now too: give shrub roses a prune as you do by taking off about a third. Hybrid teas can go back even further to about 4-6 buds from the base. Mulch with some well-rotted manure or compost but keep this away from the stems. Your roses will reward you for the trouble with fantastic flowers this summer.

Finally, I’m told a tidy lawn sets everything else off better and, while I hate lawncare, if the weather is dry enough, I’ll give the grass its first cut this month with the blades raised high. There are a few gaps that need reseeding and, as the seed needs moisture and temperatures of at least 7-8 degrees Celsius, spring is a good time to sow as doubtless there will still be plenty of rain. Rake off any leaves and scarify so seeds will make contact with the soil. Ideally sow after the lawn is good and wet after rainfall. Of course, all this activity means the weeds will be growing just as fast as the things you actually want in the garden, so don’t lose track of that hoe. Enjoy!