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Gardening guide 2024: When to mow the lawn, plant bulbs and more, according to an expert
Get the most out of your outside space, with our month-by-month gardening guide full of top tips
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Whether you’re new to gardening or a green-fingered expert, the task of getting your outside space ready for summer can often feel daunting.
From mowing the lawn to preparing soil and planting bulbs, there are a lot of jobs to be done before you can sit out on a lounger and admire the fruits of your labour – but you don’t have to do all these tasks at once. In fact, spreading the jobs out over the course of 12 months will not only avoid a rush come April and May, it will be better for your garden.
Guy Barter, chief horticulturist at the Royal Horticultural Society, says: “Gardening isn’t as difficult as everyone thinks – it can be as low- or high-maintenance as you want it to be. Plants are resilient things, and, with just a few very simple tips for each month of the year, you can bring out the best of whatever gardening space you have – whether it’s out the back, front, or a balcony or windowsill.”
Co-author of RHS Garden Almanac 2024: A seasonal guide to growing, harvesting and enjoying nature, Barter is an expert at making outside spaces look their best, and believes anyone can do the same.
“How often have you heard someone say, ‘I love gardens, but I just can’t keep anything alive’?” he asks. “I’ve collected a few choice tips to help you keep your garden in good shape throughout your horticultural year.”
From mulching lawns to repairing sheds and fences, here’s what to do, when to do it and some tools that can help you along the way.
January gardening tasks
When a new year starts, it’s the ideal opportunity to get everything looking fresh. “January is a great time to renovate overgrown deciduous hedges, roses and fruit trees, by severe pruning,” explains Barter.
This means dramatically cutting back the tree or plant, removing all the dead stems or excess branches. This rejuvenates old plants that may have stunted growth. Barter recommends using the Darlac expert topiary shears (£19.46, Amazon.co.uk), which are ultra-lightweight, so you can easily manoeuvre them while snipping and trimming.
Once that’s done, you should have time to work on garden fences and garden sheds – repainting them and hammering in any loose panels.
January gardening products
Darlac expert topiary shears: £19.46, Amazon.co.uk
Designed for maximum manoeuvrability, these lightweight shears can be used single handed to shape topiary balls, spirals and dwarf hedges, as well as general trimming around the garden.
Stanley fibreglass curved claw hammer: £8.99, Amazon.co.uk
The best way to tidy up fences is to pull the nails out of loose panels using a claw hammer, change the wood and hammer the new panels back in. The Stanley curved claw hammer is an Amazon bestseller, with 11,000 five-star reviews.
Ronseal one coat fence paint, 5l, harvest gold: £13.50, Amazon.co.uk
This quick-drying shed and fence treatment is made to protect all rough-sawn garden timber from the rigours of the weather, in just one coat. Each tub contains 5l, which should be sufficient to treat six fence panel sides, according to the brand.
February gardening tasks
Want to stop weeds growing? Take time in February to mulch beds and borders. That means placing a thick layer of compost over the soil and around plants, to suppress weeds and lock moisture into the soil. “This will feed plants all the way through to summer,” advises Barter, who recommends the Sylvagrow multi-purpose peat-free compost (£7.99, Rhsplants.co.uk).
You should also do some more pruning. February is a great month to prune autumn fruiting raspberries, deciduous hedges and fruit trees and bushes.
If you want to use your outside space to grow vegetables, start working on those spuds around Valentine’s Day. Place your early potatoes in trays (bud end uppermost), to sprout ‘chit’ for the earliest crop in June, after planting in March.
February gardening products
Felco pruning saw: £32.25, Amazon.co.uk
With a 16cm blade, this saw can help you chop errant raspberry bushes as well as fruit trees and hedges. It’s easier to hold than secateurs and the blade folds into the handle, for safe storage.
Jamieson Brothers 2kg Nicola seed potatoes: £12.99, Amazon.co.uk
These ready-to-plant seed potatoes are highly rated on Amazon. Shoppers say they produce “delicious” potatoes that are perfect for roasting and mashing come autumn.
Verve grey trays, pack of five: £4, DIY.com
Whether you’re chitting potatoes or planting seeds, this pack of five trays will come in handy. Costing just £4 at B&Q, the trays are excellent value and can be used year after year.
March gardening tasks
Following potato preparation in February, March is a great month for getting started on other vegetables. You could sow aubergines, tomatoes, cucumber, melons and peppers indoors in the warm. “A heated propogator would really help,” says Barter. The RHS essentials 52cm heated propogator (£46.99, Rhsplants.co.uk) is touted as creating the ideal micro-climate for growth, so you’ll have a higher success of crop yield later on in the year.
Pruning-wise, it’s time to focus on rose bushes and rhododendrons, for which you’ll need a smaller pair of shears, such as the Darlac bypass secateurs (£14.99, Rhsplants.co.uk).
If you’re lucky enough to have a lawn, show it some love by raking the lawn moss. The aim is to remove all the loose debris, but not uproot the grass. Keep hold of the moss, as you can use it for hanging baskets later in the year.
After the moss has been removed, you may want to treat your lawn, to stop the moss growing back. A good chemical-free option is the Miracle-Gro evergreen no-rake lawn fertiliser (£44, Diy.com), which feeds the lawn as well as preventing moss growth.
March gardening products
Faithfull essentials lawn rake: £19.09, Diy.com
This affordable rake is springy enough to gather up leaves without tearing into your lawn. Priced at less than £20, it’s an essential tool for keeping lawns looking neat.
Darlac bypass secateurs: £14.99, Rhsplants.co.uk
Designed for smaller hands, these secateurs are the perfect size for light pruning, with a cut capacity of 16mm. The non-slip handles are said to be comfortable to hold, so you can tackle lots of plants in one session without any aches or pains in your hand or wrist.
April gardening tasks
Perennials are plants that live for more than two years and regrow each spring. However, they need to be divided every couple of years, otherwise they form clumps that can die out in the middle. Dividing them also prevents bacterial infection. In April, lift the plant out of the ground and split the root clump with a sharp spade, making sure each of the new clumps has at least two growing points. Then, simply plant these out as usual.
If you’re after a colourful garden, start sowing flower seeds indoors for borders and containers. Cosmos, gazania, sunflowers and zinnias are all great options to choose.
You should also look to provide your lawn with some nourishment. Barter suggests: “Feed lawns with lawn fertiliser, but set some areas of lawn aside for a no-mow regime, where the grass and so-called lawn weeds will flower and support nature in summer.
April gardening products
DeWit small spade with long T handle: £34.99, Waitrosegarden.com
Easy to carry around the garden, this DeWit tool features a mini spade head and long handle. It is a great lightweight option that’s ideal for working in smaller areas.
Westland safelawn liquid, 1l: £9.97, Amazon.co.uk
Safe for kids and pets, this product is designed to get your grass green and luscious without nasty side effects. Treat lawns regularly and you’ll see results in as little as 28 days.
May gardening tasks
The lighter, brighter and warmer days of May mean you might want to plant up beds and containers, including hanging baskets, with summer flowers, including abutilon, begonias, impatiens, fuchsia, lobelia, pelargoniums and petunias.
You could also sow edibles such as beetroot, carrots, chard, lettuce, spring onions, radish, spinach, calabrese, cabbage and leeks.
Also, show your lawn some care with regular mowing sessions. Barter advises mowing it every week or more in May to thicken the sward. “Perhaps add extra lawn seed to sparse areas or use dwarf white clover seed for nature-friendly lawns that won’t need fertiliser,” he adds.
May gardening products
Rectangular net hanging basket: £21.99, Rhsplants.co.uk
With its shopping-basket-style design, this planter is a more modern take on a traditional round hanging basket. Made from heavy-duty steel wire with a 55cm steel cable, it includes a 7cm hanging loop for placing over fences or tree branches.
Worx WG743E.1 cordless lawn mower: £339.99, Diy.com
This lawn mower is an IndyBest-rated buy – our reviewer loved the big wheels and ergonomic design, which made it easy to push along. They also raved about Worx’s cut-to-edge function, saying “the deck design and off-centred blade get as close to your garden’s borders as possible, leaving you with less trimming and maintenance to do afterwards.”
June gardening tasks
Weed growth peaks in June, so it’s advisable to hoe regularly. The Dewit dutch hoe classic (£38.99, Waitrosegarden.com) has a sharp edge that you can slide back and forth underneath the soil to slice weeds off at the roots.
June can often be a dry month, which isn’t always great news for lawns, but Barter has a solution to this problem, suggesting: “Let lawns grow slightly longer to help them withstand dry periods, without premature browning, and resist wear.”
However, the warmth of June also provides ideal temperatures for tender vegetables to survive. It’s a great opportunity to plant out courgettes, cucumbers, French beans, pumpkins, runner beans, squash and sweetcorn. Get those tomatoes you’ve been growing inside into the ground, too. You might want to use cloches, cold frames or tunnels for aubergines, melons and peppers, as this raises humidity levels, helping them to thrive.
June gardening products
Tent cloche: £64.99, Waitrosgarden.com
This tall, generous and elegant long cloche has been designed to protect rows of medium sized culinary or decorative plants from garden pests. It’s produced from metal wire woven seamlessly around a rod frame and finished with a lichen-green powder coating, helping it to blend in with your garden.
Oypla wooden cold frame grow house: £34.99, Amazon.co.uk
Made from solid wood with polycarbonate panels, this will protect your vegetables from pests. It’s also designed to shield them from harsh weather conditions and breezy winds, so they grow stronger, faster.
July gardening tasks
During the summer months, a lot of people make the mistake of watering plants little and often. However, Barter says: “Soak plants, especially young plants, thoroughly to wet the root zone, checking with your trowel if necessary. Watering little and often is ineffective and wastes water.” Following Barter’s advice, you can water every two to three days,
By mid-summer you also need to liquid feed pots and other containers, as the nutrient reserves in the potting compost will be depleted by now.
Then have a look at any rose bushes or flowering plants that aren’t opening up properly. Use a pair of compact snippers to deadhead them to encourage more flowers later. The Darlac compact snips (£13.99, Amazon.co.uk) are more lightweight than secateurs and small enough to sit comfortably in the palm of your hand, making them the ideal choice for precision tasks such as deadheading.
July gardening products
Long reach watering can: £34.99, Rhsplants.co.uk
Meet one of the best-looking watering cans you’ve ever seen. Made from galvanised steel, it has copper trims and an elegant spout. It also has a spout brace that you can hold when the can is full, to avoid uneven weight distribution and spillage.
Miracle-Gro liquid plant food, 1l: £3.97, Amazon.co.uk
Feeding plants with this food can make them grow twice as big as unfed plants, according to the brand. It contains a blend of nourishing ingredients to stimulate growth, yield and root formation as well as improving resistance to environmental stresses.
August gardening tasks
If you’re growing vegetables, picking them regularly is the key to a bountiful crop. Keep pulling up courgettes, cucumbers, runner beans and tomatoes, so the plants don’t give up on cropping. Then you can pickle, preserve and freeze any surplus for winter.
Salad vegetables such as spinach and chard, salad onions and spring cabbage can be sowed now for harvest in spring.
At the end of the month, you might want to take a look at your evergreen hedges and any rambling rose bushes. Cutting back the rose bushes after flowering and taking off some of the hedge thickness will help it regrow with a healthy finish come winter.
August gardening products
Darlac expert bypass pruner: £23.36, Amazon.co.uk
Shock-absorbing buffers on these durable, sharp pruners ease strain on hands and wrists for more comfortable cutting over long periods. Featuring razor-sharp carbon steel blades, they’re strong enough to cut through thick stems of rose bushes and can even cut wire, according to the brand.
Burgon & Ball harvesting knife: £15.49, Burgonandball.com
It can be hard to pick vegetables manually, but this 31cm knife can make a real difference, helping you harvest thick-stemmed vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower. It comes with a generous 10-year guarantee when you buy it direct from Burgon & Ball, too.
September gardening tasks
After a summer of fun and games, your lawn might be looking a little sparse. September is the best time to focus on rehabilitating it back to good health. There are a few tasks to fit in this month, as Barter explains: “You need to rake thatch, spike to reduce surface compaction, spread an autumn fertiliser if growth is poor, and thicken up sparse areas by raking in grass seed, ideally just before rain is forecast.”
The end of summer is a good time to start thinking about next spring, too. Plant bulbs such as narcissi, grape hyacinths and crocus in lawns, borders and pots. Tulips and hyacinths can be planted next month, if convenient.
If you are lucky enough to have apples, pears or raspberries growing in your outside space, these can be picked and enjoyed in September and October. Make sure to pick them as they ripen, so they don’t go past their best.
September gardening products
Miracle-Gro evergreen premium plus autumn and spring lawn food, 8kg: £34.16, Amazon.co.uk
September is the time to look after your lawn, and this Miracle-Gro product is a great way to start doing just that. It’s designed to nourish your lawn in autumn, so it’s in top shape come summer.
Bamboo pots, set of five, terracotta: £6.99, Rhsplants.co.uk
Can you ever have enough plant pots? These terracotta-coloured options are made from natural bamboo and rice, and can be broken up and thrown on the compost heap when they’re past their best – although, you should get many years of use out of them before that happens.
October gardening tasks
The colder weather is harmful to some plants, but you can store them inside, to keep them going for next summer. At the start of Ocober, Barter suggests taking time to lift and store tender plants, tubers and corms, including begonia, canna, dahlia, gladioli, fuchsia, and pelargonium. Store them in trays or crates of sand or dryish compost, with the crown of the plant (where the stems join the roots) just showing. Keep them in a frost-free place such as a shed with a closed door, a garage or a conservatory.
Also take a look at your perennials. Lift and divide asters, heleniums, rudbeckias and phlox by planting fist-sized segments outside of clumps. The Dewit perennial planter (£29.99, Waitrosegarden.com) has a 45cm-long handle, for extra reach and leverage when it comes to lifting perennials with precision.
See how your lawn is getting on after September’s intensive therapy, too. If there are still some bare patches, you can mend them or make new lawns by laying turf – it will be well ‘bound’ by next summer.
October gardening products
Burned wooden fruit crate: £11.95, Kingofcrates.co.uk
This hardy wooden crate provides the perfect home for tender plants in the winter, keeping them safe while they’re inside over the colder months. The crate should be easy to grab and transport, so you can carry it in and out of the garden, too.
Lawn turf, 25 square metres: £169, Diy.com
B&Q harvests turf to order, to guarantee freshness when it arrives at your door. It’s recommended to lay the turf immediately after arrival. Start watering using a sprinkler as soon as possible, preferably within an hour of laying.
November gardening tasks
This is the ideal month to plant trees and shrubs, including fruit and climbers, especially bare-root ones that are good value but only available in winter.
Any fallen leaves accumulating in your garden can be used to make leafmould, which makes a good soil conditioner. Gather the leaves into a pile and enclose them in a square or round frame made from chicken wire (or similar) supported with stakes or bamboo canes. Keep this in a sheltered part of the garden, to ensure the leaves are not blown away. Make your leaf heap as large as possible, to hasten decay, and moisten it periodically if it becomes dry. Most leaves take about two years to break down.
If you have any sensitive plants in your garden, find some time this month to protect them with a mulch of wood or bark chips or wrap with straw held in place with wire netting. The Sylvagrow multi-purpose compost (£20.97, Rhsplants.co.uk) is a blend of fine bark and wood fibre (both sustainable by-products of British forests), coir (from a single known source) and sterilised loam and sand, and it contains no peat or green waste.
November gardening products
Easipet galvanised chicken wire: £16.99, Diy.com
This chicken wire can be easily bent and cut to size, so you can shape it as you wish to create your perfect leafmould crate, among other uses.
Bamboo canes, bundle of 10: £3.89, Amazon.co.uk
Amazon is a great place to find affordable, good-quality bamboo for gardening. Choose from 2ft to 7ft poles for taller plants, as well as smaller canes needed for leafmould cages.
December gardening tasks
By winter, it’s easy to feel unmotivated when it comes to gardening, but there are still some fun and important tasks to do. One of these is to put up nest boxes to help birds in spring, and bat boxes to provide the nocturnal mammals with summer roosts.
If all your deciduous trees have lost their leaves, it’s a good idea to prune them and make stacks of sticks or logs to provide shelter for wildlife during winter.
Starting thinking ahead and order seeds, seed potatoes, summer bulbs and other garden necessities for spring, to prepare for starting the gardening process all over again the following year.
December gardening products
Wildlife World artisan nest box: £44.99, Johnlewis.com
Handmade and hand-painted by Balinese artisans, in an authentic Indonesian style, this bird box is a joy to behold. Made from sustainable FSC-certified timber, it has a long lifespan, so it can be used for multiple seasons.
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