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With spring theoretically well under way (let’s pretend for a moment that a substantial proportion of Britons are not looking out of their window and seeing snow) it’s a busy time in the garden. Obviously the priorities at the moment are going to be keeping the tender plants wrapped up and the greenhouse heated - but here’s a few tips for when the weather improves:

• Apply organic material to revive the soil - you can do this in the form of mulch and deal with the inevitable spring weed crop before it gets a chance to sprout. If it’s too late, get the hoe out (and dispose of the results in a way that stops them reoccupying our garden).
• Love your lawn - give it a feed, if this is the kind of thing you usually do, or take a look at this BBC Gardening guide to creating an organic lawn. Cut it back as soon as the grass is dry enough, neaten up your edges and give it a good going over with the scarifier. Remember that the compost heap loves grass cuttings but doesn’t want to be swamped with them - combine them with kitchen waste or even torn-up cardboard for a better balance.
• Plant any summer-flowering bulbs that you have in mind as soon as the soil is dry enough. Dead-head and tidy up any spring-flowering bulbs that need it - a liquid feed before they die down will boost them for next year, try soaking a little home-made compost in a bucket for a few days and using the resulting liquid for this purpose.
• Take out any winter and spring bedding that is past its prime and start preparing your beds for summer planting. But beware of the frost! Do no more than prepare…
• Take the opportunity to clean up your paths and patios - it’s a chore, we know, but you’ll be very glad in a month or two that you did it now.
• Check your vegetable planting schedule. This is the time of year when many perennials such as asparagus and rhubarb like to go in.

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Been thinking about growing your own veg this year? Well, you’re in good time to start - and there’ll be plenty of help and advice available from the RHS.

Its Grow Your Own Veg team has developed a special website section where you can decide what to grow, find out when to sow and even brush up on your gardening techniques.

There’s a monthly guide alongside tips on how to keep your plot flourishing. You can sign up for a free newsletter or take part in a veg growing survey. Or, if a problem’s a bit too knotty for you to tackle alone, there’s a forum for seeking advice

There are also regional events that you can attend to pick up tips and advice in person.

There’s nothing as tasty and satisfying as cooking with your own home-grown veg - good luck!

Interested in learning more about attracting wildlife to your garden? Then you’ll love a new project launched by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

Following its Big Garden Birdwatch event in January it has set up a Homes for Wildlife campaign.

It says that if you own a garden, or even just a window box, you can take simple, practical steps that will benefit many of our most important birds, mammals and insects. The UK’s largest nature reserve is in your hands…

Sign up to the project (for which you don’t need to be a member) and you’ll get a personalised garden audit that tells you about the most important improvements you can make.

There are straightforward factsheets that you can print out and keep and an advice list that will remind you of simple steps you can take to make your garden more wildlife-friendly.

To learn more about Homes for Wildlife, just click here. Or follow this link to learn more about RSPB membership.

In like a lion and out like a lamb - while early days in March may well still feel like the middle of winter, by the end of the month it should be all systems go in the garden.

There’s plenty to do this month, including overhauling shrubs, starting off your vegetable crops and trying out ways to make your garden wildlife-friendly. Here’s our list of seasonal to-dos for March:

• Cut the grass - we bet you’ve missed this, haven’t you? Grass is likely to be one of the hardiest and most successful plants in your garden, and yet it still needs care and attention. Time to get it into shape for spring.
• Prune back heathers and lavenders ready for the new growing season.
• Shrubs will also benefit from a pruning - get some advice here.You can also take the opportunity to take some hardwood cuttings - advice here - and to apply fertilizer and mulch.
• Get your pond into good shape since frogs and toads will soon be along to start spawning. Skim off any winter debris and divide any plants around the margins that are getting a bit dense.
• Apply environmentally pest control - unfortunately it’s not just the plants that are waking up, but the slugs too. Consider using the used skins of halved oranges and grapefruits to control them - more tips here.
• Sow half-hardy annuals including petunias, french marigolds, salvias and nicotianas, indoors.
• Now’s a good time to get your new roses planted - read some advice from the RHS here - and also hardy shrubs such as fuscias, conifers and lilies.
• Sow vegetables outdoors - possible crops include broad beans, beetroots, Brussels sprouts, summer cabbages, leeks, lettuces, hardy peas and radishes - see this BBC article for advice.

February’s a tantalising month - the first signs of spring are in the air but it isn’t quite here yet. But never fear, there’s plenty to do in the garden already.

This month it’s all about preparation - sowing seeds, sorting out beds, doing those last bits of pruning, separating and tidying to make sure everything’s good to go the minute the weather picks up. Here’s our list of seasonal to-dos for February:

• Mulch between trees, shrubs, roses and fruit bushes, and even heap the stuff on top of dormant perennials - a great frost-protector and a nutritious start to the new season.
• Deadhead your winter-flowering plants that are now past their best.
• Divide clumps of perennials - think of it as your very own plant factory, and a great way to re-stock depleted beds.
• Work in compost - time to give that heap a clear-out and start nourishing your beds for spring. Be sure to dig it in properly - nothing looks worse than great lumps of vegetable matter laying on top of the soil.
• Hoe and weed your vegetable beds and sow any early seeds that feature in your plans. If you’re planning to plant potatoes it’s time to start thinking about chitting them - more info from the RHS here.
• February’s a good time to prune Clematis - especially the large-flowering varieties. Start at the bottom, find the lowest, healthy, fat, pair of buds on each stem and cut immediately above them. Find more pruning tips here.

Have you been noticing differences in your garden thanks to wetter summers, warmer winters, stronger winds or other altered growing conditions that are affecting the way your flowers, fruit and veg are developing?

If this is a topic that interests you, then visit the Royal Horticultural Society website, where there’s a section that addresses your concerns and asks about your experiences. Here’s how it’s introduced:

Gardening in a changing climate

The impacts of a changing climate are now firmly at the top of the scientific, political and environmental agendas. But while the big global problems of climate change are addressed in the corridors of power, what are the ramifications for UK horticulture and gardening?

We are considering what our changing climate is likely to mean in terms of what we grow and how we grow it. But it is clear that our gardens will become an increasingly important resource - for ourselves and wildlife. Much still needs to be understood and while no-one yet has all the answers, garden-making and growing plants can be a potent force for good. Read on here…

Visit these pages and you can get advice, discuss the topic with other gardeners via a bulletin board, take a short survey or find out more about the weather. Whatever your interest, there should be something helpful here.

Find out more about climate- and weather-related RHS events >>

Find out about the effects of a changing climate on wildlife >>

Here are the latest articles we’ve added to MyGardenFinder. Take a look, and let us know what you think - and what you’d like to see in the future:

Ten great gardens to visit in the UK

Here are our ten top tips for a great horticultural day out, all around England and in Wales and Scotland too.

A guide to plant health from Jersey Plants Direct

In order to help you get the very best from your plants this retailer has published a guide to plant health, as well as dealing with common pests and diseases - one of several topics on which it provides hints and tips.

Check out our full in-depth section here >>

We’re always trying to find ways to improve MyGardenFinder and make it more useful to readers. As a result we’ve added a new in-depth section where we can collect gardening tips and advice. You’ll find the link in the site header and you can read the following articles:

Ten sources of gardening weather advice

If you’re dying to get out in the garden and get a few jobs done, the most important thing to know about is what kind of weather to expect. And, when it comes to protecting tender plants from frost, or your vegetable crops from drought, a good weather forecast is essential. Here’s our guide to sources of weather information and advice on the web, from next weekend’s forecast to coping with the effects of climate change… Read full article here

Ten great reads for gardeners

Looking for some horticultural reads, either for yourself or for loved ones? Lay aside those seed catalogues and take a look at this lot. There’s bound to be something on the list that will suit your needs perfectly… Read full article here

MyGardenFinder’s MyGardenFinder monthly jobs list

We publish each installment of our monthly guide to maintaining your garden in this blog - but for convenience they’re all collected on this page. Make sure you’ve read the latest…

We’re keen to hear about anything you’d like to see featured in this section so, if you’ve got any suggestions, do leave a comment on this post.

Looking for some great ideas on how to make your garden inspirational this year? Or maybe you need advice on a particular issue, like growing vegetables, pruning hedges or looking after your mower.

If so then it’s very possible that the Royal Horticultural Society is organising just the event for you.

Its programme includes workshops, lectures and tours hosted by gardens, nurseries, gardening societies and horticultural colleges around the country, all with a reduced ticket price for RHS members.

To get more information about what’s going on in your area, visit its regional events page where you can download leaflets for different areas of the country.

It’s hard to motivate yourself to get outside during this month, never mind dodging the rain for long enough to actually do anything useful.

But have a go and you’ll find you immediately feel better - and there’s a surprising amount you can get done. Here’s our list of seasonal to-dos for January:

• Mulch your borders - shredded prunings (even the Christmas tree), ash, well-rotted leaf mould and manure or home-made compost are all excellent for this task. Your goal at this time of year is to reduce the potential for weeds to spring up the minute the sun comes out - so do a thorough job and make sure the surface is weed-free before you start. You are also aiming to trap moisture in the soil. Spread to a depth of about 5cm/2.5in and rake it smooth once you’ve finished to make the beds look neat.
• Turn over the compost heap - frost is a key factor in helping to break down the kitchen and garden waste you’ve put on there. Getting to work with a fork will help aerate it and encourage the natural processes that help it rot down.
• Dig over your vegetable beds - it may sound daunting, but what better way to fulfil a few of those New Year resolutions and work off the Christmas comestibles? Frost will help to break down the soil and persistent weeds will be growing whatever the season. So it’s time to get the fork out and get everything in good condition for spring planting.
• Move any shrubs which have outgrown their space or are in the wrong place - and take cuttings. For advice on making root cuttings that thrive, read this BBC gardening article on the subject.
• Cut back perennials before that spring growth spurt comes along. Be careful to prune sympathetically, taking back each branch just above a suitable, healthy set of buds in order to promote new growth and get the shape you want. Don’t forget to clear out any dead wood at the bottom or interior of the bush. This is obviously very general advice - for more detailed instructions, read a RHS article on renovating old shrubs here.
• Give your greenhouse an airing - this is a fair-weather job but, after it’s been shut up all winter, it will certainly benefit from a little fresh air and you’ll be glad in spring that you got it ready.
• Clean up the mess - chances are that, while you’ve been hiding inside, your garden’s picked up a detritus of dead leaves, bits of moss, fallen twigs and branches plus plant matter that’s blown in from the surrounding neighbourhood. Clear it all up and chuck the good stuff on the compost heap, to give yourself a bit of encouragement for the work to come. There’s nothing like starting the new year with a clean slate…