We start to groan under the weight of all our January plans, but the lovely thing about the garden in winter is that it is asleep and so none of the plans need to be urgent. Gardens are forgiving places and I have a sneaking suspicion that they’d rather be left alone anyway, so if the resolutions and to-do lists for your outdoor space don’t completely go to plan, it will manage – and the wildlife will be happier.
Still, we’re only at the start, so best foot forward and it’s good to make a plan. If you want to get a bit organised, or at least know the main tasks for the year, here are some – grouped by season, not by month, because the weather, the conditions in your garden and life itself have a habit of thwarting our plans…

Winter

How I love a winter garden! Frosted effects, elegant branches, evergreens, topiary and bright dogwood stems. Just look in any garden magazine or visit an RHS garden in the depths of winter and you’ll see a wealth of fabulous plants that look their best in the bleak midwinter. This season reveals the very bones of a place, making it the perfect time to look at the structure – or the lack of it – in our own gardens. If the ground isn’t frozen you can plant trees, shrubs and hedges to give your garden more backbone.

They’ll establish themselves quietly over the colder months and be ready to grow away strongly in spring.

Prune roses and woody plants

Late winter is the perfect time to prune roses – they’re dormant, and you can see exactly what you’re working with. Remove any dead, diseased or crossing stems and aim for an open structure that lets light and air circulate. It’s like giving them a good haircut –they’ll thank you with a better shape and better blooms in summer.

Make plans

Use this quieter time to sketch out your garden ambitions. Reorganise borders, dream up new planting schemes, and decide where to put that wildflower meadow you’ve been meaning to start. This can all be done on paper for now, but somehow setting ideas and plans down makes them more real, and hopefully more achievable.

Spring

Spring is the season of new life and renewal, leaves unfurl, buds burst and colour and energy returns.

There’s plenty to do to prepare your garden for the months ahead, but with so much to tackle it can get overwhelming, so allocate your time carefully and (note to self) try not to bite off more than you can chew.

Lift and divide perennials

As the soil warms, it’s time to divide any overcrowded perennials like hardy geraniums, asters, or daylilies. This rejuvenates the plants, encourages better growth, and gives you free plants to fill out your borders – or share with friends.

Discourage weeds, encourage nature

Spring is a wonderful time for wildflowers and native plants – many are weeds in our gardens, and can overwhelm the borders if not kept in check. Rather than waging war, try to work smarter. A layer of mulch not only suppresses weeds but also locks in moisture and improves soil health. For wildlife, leave small gaps in your weeding regime and let the garden grow a little wild around the edges —the chickweed and dandelions may be a nuisance, but they’re also a lifeline for early pollinators.

Ready, set, veg!

Early crops like peas, broad beans, lettuce and radishes do well in the cool of early spring. If your soil is sandy and free draining you’ll be able to sow seeds directly into the ground, but for clay soils – and protection from pests – start them under cover to plant out as plugs. Plant some flowery companions like marigolds and nasturtiums to attract beneficial insects for pollination and pest control.

No mow May

Lawn care is a year round task, but grass grows fast in the spring and will end up needing a cut once or even twice a week. The idea behind ‘No Mow May’ is to allow the grass to grow long for a month so that it can flower and set seed, allowing it to become part of the ecosystem and be of benefit to wildlife – and it also gives us a break from all that mowing.

If you have a large enough space, mowing paths through your long grass, or mowing a section or even a strip around the edges will make it look less unkempt.

Summer

By summer, the garden is in full swing, and maintenance is the key task of the season. Get out and about and visit some beautiful gardens at their best, but also spend some leisure time in your own garden. Eat outside, sit, dream and just enjoy being in it.

Holidays

Arrange for holiday watering and – if you grow vegetables, try to plan for the harvest when you are at home. Otherwise your hard work might go to waste.

Deal with pests, naturally

Monitor plants for pests like aphids and caterpillars, but try biological methods where possible. Ladybirds, lacewings, wasps and birds will often take care of the problem if you let them. Provide water and shelter to keep these allies in your garden.

Keep the show on the road

Bad weather and high winds may still hit us in the summer, so stake tall plants like delphiniums before they flop, deadhead flowers to prolong blooming, feed container displays and keep watering consistently during dry spells.

Autumn

As summer fades into autumn, the garden takes on a quieter, more reflective beauty.

Stay outside and enjoy the last warm rays, and don’t be in a rush to tidy up. It is the season of preparation though too, and work done now will really pay off next year.

Reorganise a border

If something isn’t working – a plant is sulking in the shade, scorched in the sun, or crowding its neighbours – don’t be afraid to move things around. Autumn is the perfect time for a border revamp – lifting and repositioning plants while the soil is warm.

Plant for the future

Autumn is bulb-planting season. Daffodils, tulips, and alliums go into the ground now, so they grow strongly for spring’s grand display. It’s also a great time to establish new hardy perennials, shrubs or hedges. They’ll quietly grow good strong roots over the autumn and winter and will perform better in the following seasons.

Lawns and meadows

Give your lawn one last mow before the frost arrives, but raise the blade to leave it longer. If you’ve got a wildflower meadow, allow it to set seed before cutting back, ensuring it will come back stronger next year. If you are establishing a new meadow, early autumn is the perfect time to sow wildflowers.

Enrich your soil

Clear away spent plants from vegetable beds and borders, but don’t let the soil lie bare – nature abhors a vacuum. Add a thick layer of compost or plant green manure to enrich it for the coming growing season. This keeps the soil alive and teeming with beneficial organisms.

Help wildlife

Resist the urge to tidy too much. Piles of leaves, hollow stems, and quiet corners offer essential shelter for overwintering insects and small mammals.

Leave seed heads on plants like teasels, sunflowers and ivy for the birds to eat during the lean months.

Each season brings its own rhythm, tasks and joys. As you go through the year ahead, try to celebrate your successes, forgive the mistakes, and remember that gardening is a process, not an end destination. With care, planning – and some help from nature – your outdoor space will flourish, and hopefully so will you.

Jo’s new gardening course is booking now.

Call 07923 969634 or email jo@hornbrookmanor.co.uk