Lifestyle · 5 min read
I’ll be honest with you — the garden was not always my thing. For the longest time I treated it like that room in the house you just close the door on and pretend doesn’t exist. But last spring something shifted. I stepped outside, looked at the state of my lawn and thought — no, not this year. This year we’re doing it properly.
And I’m so glad I did. There is something genuinely therapeutic about getting your hands in the soil, watching things come back to life and knowing you had a part in it. If you’ve been putting off your garden like I was, this post is for you. Here’s exactly how I got mine spring-ready, and the tools that made the whole process so much less overwhelming than I expected.
Start With a Clear Out
Before you buy anything or plant anything, walk around your garden and do a proper assessment. Remove any dead plants from last year, clear out fallen leaves that have been sitting since autumn, cut back anything that’s overgrown and give your space a clean slate to work with. It sounds simple but this step alone makes the biggest difference.
Invest in a Good Garden Tool Set
This was my biggest mistake in previous years — trying to get by with one sad trowel and a borrowed spade. A proper garden tool set changes everything. I picked up a set that included a hand trowel, transplanting trowel, cultivator, weeder and pruning shears all in one, and suddenly every job felt more manageable.
When you’re shopping for a set, look for:
- Stainless steel heads — they won’t rust and they’re much easier to clean
- Ergonomic handles — your hands and wrists will thank you after an hour of digging
- A carry bag or organiser — keeps everything together so you’re not hunting for tools every five minutes
A good set will last you years and honestly makes the whole experience more enjoyable. It’s one of those purchases that feels like a treat but is completely practical.
Aerate Your Lawn — Your Grass Needs to Breathe
If your lawn looks tired, patchy or waterlogged after winter, there’s a good chance it needs aerating. I had no idea what lawn aeration even was until last year and now I genuinely can’t believe I went without it.
Aeration is the process of creating small holes in your lawn to allow air, water and nutrients to reach the roots more easily. Over winter the soil gets compacted — especially if you’ve had heavy rain or frost — and your grass essentially suffocates. Aerating in early spring gives it the best possible start.
A lawn aerator makes this so straightforward. You can get manual spike aerators that you push across the lawn like a roller, or handheld fork-style ones for smaller gardens. For bigger lawns, a wheeled aerator with hollow tines is worth every penny. It removes small plugs of soil rather than just poking holes, which is more effective.
Do this before you feed your lawn and you’ll notice the difference within weeks. Greener, thicker, healthier grass — it really works.
Deal With Weeds Properly — Pull Them From the Root
Weeds are the one thing that can undo all your hard work faster than anything else. And if you’ve ever tried pulling them by hand, you’ll know the frustration of getting the top but leaving the root behind, only for the whole thing to grow back twice as stubborn.
This is where a weed puller is an absolute revelation. I resisted buying one for ages because I thought it was unnecessary, and then I used one for the first time and genuinely felt a bit emotional about how easy it was.
A good weed puller — especially the long-handled standing kind — lets you remove the entire weed including the root without bending down, without getting your hands dirty and without leaving anything behind. You position it over the weed, push down, twist and lift. The whole weed comes out cleanly. It’s oddly satisfying.
Look for one with:
- A long handle so you’re not straining your back
- Stainless steel claws for durability
- An ejector mechanism so you can release the weed without touching it
Deal with your weeds early in spring before they establish themselves and spread, and you’ll have a much easier time maintaining your garden all season long.
Feed, Seed and Water
Once you’ve aerated and de-weeded, give your lawn a spring feed, a general purpose lawn fertiliser works perfectly for most gardens. If you have bare patches, overseed them now while the soil is warming up and the rain is still coming regularly. Then step back and let nature do its thing.
For flower beds and borders, add a layer of compost or mulch around your plants to retain moisture, suppress weeds and give everything a nutritional boost as it starts to grow.
The Bit Nobody Tells You
Getting your garden ready for spring doesn’t have to be done in a day. I did mine in three separate sessions over two weekends — an hour here, an hour there — with a cup of tea in between. It genuinely became something I looked forward to rather than dreaded.
Start with the right tools, take it one section at a time and you’ll be amazed at what your outdoor space can look like with just a little bit of love and attention. Your garden has been waiting all winter. it’s time to wake it up.
— OliNaomi
