Plotlines: What to do in your garden right now

Cut off the flowers and stems of spent daffodils (or flowers still in bloom for vases) but leave the foliage to replenish the bulb for next year. Remove the leaves only when they have turned yellow, an indication that they have passed their nutrients on. While daffodils can bloom for decades without any division, for the biggest and most prolific flowering it’s best not to have them too crowded. The ideal time to lift and divide is after flowering and the leaves have yellowed.

Prune correas as the new spring shoots appear, and then regularly tip prune them to encourage not only thick, bushy growth but also more flowers.

Keep a close eye on the soil around your fruit trees and water when dry. While prime fruit-tree-pruning season has passed, it’s still worth removing dead, diseased, low or crossing branches.

Keep mulching any areas of bare soil.

Don’t go overboard with your spring tidy up, leave areas of long grass, some fallen dead leaves and twigs for insect food and habitat.