Claire Byrne spoke to gardener Marie Staunton, and Catherine Carton, author and DIY expert, about what to do around the house and garden this time of year. Listen back above.
As the spring sunlight warms the soil for the growing season ahead, it also shows up streaks on windows, chips in paintwork and scruffy areas of our homes and gardens.
For expert tips on which gardening and DIY tasks to tackle first, Claire Byrne spoke to gardener Marie Staunton and Author and DIY expert Catherine Carton.
If you plan to grow vegetables, Marie suggests starting seedlings indoors now, to get them ready for planning out later in the spring when the soil is warmer. Digging over beds for potato planting can also start around now.
If you’ve changed your mind about where some of your plants belong in the garden, Marie says you have a window of opportunity at the moment to move them to a better spot in the garden; as many plants are still dormant and they won't suffer from being uprooted.
She also recommends cutting back dried-out stems and flower heads from herbaceous perennials to leave room for new growth:
"There’d be leftover bits from herbaceous perennials that maybe are looking rather raggy at the moment, so you can cut them back and you know, really give the garden a little bit of a spruce."
Rose pruning can start from now, but take care to do it in a way that maximises the outward growth of the rose bush:
"You are cutting back to an outward-facing bud along your rose stems. The idea is that you get loads of open space in the centre of the rose bush, because that allows good air circulation. It also allows for better blooming of flowers. And take out some old stems – you want the young vigorous stems."
Heading indoors, Catherine Carton has a cheap and simple solution for getting those windows, doors and skirting boards sparkling:
"My favourite thing to clean windows is white vinegar and distilled water. If you don’t have distilled water you can use normal water. So 50:50 in a spray bottle – give it a good shake and I use this on skirting boards, I use it on the windows, I use it to clean down the doors."
Catherine says a normal cloth will do for the windows, but you can use newspapers to keep the streaks away if you like. Online house-cleaning influencers have all kinds of hacks, like using Coca-Cola to clean the windows, but Catherine is sticking to the vinegar/water combo.
Just remember to use white vinegar, she says, and not malt; unless you want your house to smell of chips.
There’s no need to invest in a whole bunch of new cleaning gadgets, just because some online cleaning influencer told you so. But there is one item Catherine recommends getting, particularly for those hard-to-reach areas:
"If you do have high windows and you don’t want to pay someone to come out and do them, you can get extendable squeegees, if you need to tackle them. And they’re also great at just knocking out the cobwebs in the corner above a window; it’s this time of year when I start to notice them more than any other time throughout winter."
If the paint on your skirting boards needs freshening up, Catherine has the solution:
"Sand back as much of the chips and flaky paint as you can, give it a wipe with some sugar soap and then prime it with a primer and then you can paint over it with the top coat that was already on."
Be aware whether you are using oil or water based paint, Catherine says. She favours water based satin paint for skirting boards as the oil in gloss paint can cause yellowing over time:
"If you need to paint over any oil based paint, just make sure you prime it first with a stain-blocking primer. If you go into any of the independent décor shops, they’ll recommend something that you can put over it to stop it bleeding through. If you put a satin over an oil, it’s not gonna mix."
When it comes to spring cleaning and decluttering, Catherine says we should start small, to avoid getting overwhelmed:
"Little and often – we’ve all done it, where you pull apart drawers and you’re sitting on a bed full of clutter and you regret starting it. So I try and give myself just little 20-minute windows; one little thing a day, so if it’s that 'Drawer of Doom’..."
Catherine recommends going as paperless as possible to avoid the ‘Drawer of Doom’ scenario, like asking for your utility bills to be email only, for example.
You can create more storage space by selling or donating items of clothing and furniture, and if you have a build-up of larger items to recycle, get a head-start on the spring-cleaning hordes and do it now, Catherine says:
"If you’re clearing out the shed and you have things like paint cans, now is a great time to go to the recycle centres, because I find they’re not as busy. If you wait until the May Bank Holiday and when the weather is good, the queue does be mad. I find now is a great time."
Marie and Catherine have more tips on using planting and painting techniques to mask outdoor concrete walls in the full segment: listen back above.
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