Garden spring clean

A.� Why not start on the patio. The winter wet will probably have produced a slippery, slimy green algal slime on top of the slabs by now which just requires a bit of old fashioned elbow grease to get shot of. Arm yourself with a stiff and a bucket of warm soapy water and get scrubbing. If you like things really spick and span, moss that has built up between slabs can be lifted out by a penknife and back fill with sand.

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Patio slabs have a habit of sinking over time as they settle. To get everything level again lift the offenders with a chisel, clean off the bottom and re-level the base, and then replace the slab.

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A.� Decking can also get slimy so it will need a scrub down too. On a dry day brush out the debris and water that has collected in the drainage grooves, which can rot the wood, and then apply a coat of preservative to keep the wood healthy.

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A.� Damp earth has a habit of washing up at the base of the shed or fence and can eventually rot the wood if it is not removed. After you've done it again worth giving everything a coat of preservative, even a coloured one if you fancy a bit of a change.

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A.� The Easter bank holiday weekend is traditionally the busiest in the gardening calendar. There are plenty of sales on to draw the punters in so this might be a good time to replace that fork with the broken shaft.

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The lawn will require a high trim soon so give the mower a once over, oiling nuts and bolts, replacing hover blades and getting rotary mower blades sharpened.

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A. It'll soon be time to start planting out and sowing half-hardy annuals direct onto the soil. To help get that fine, crumbly consistency that will help guarantee germination get out the rake and remove debris like fallen leaves and start breaking up the soil and removing stones.

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The winter rain will have washed some of the goodness out of the soil so if you didn't get round to digging in some organic matter during last year you'll

do your plants the world of good by adding some oomph now. Organic fertilizers like fish, blood and bone or chicken manure pellets will do the job nicely.

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A.� It is not a pleasant thought but slugs and snails and their new off-spring are on the move now.

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Get out there in the evening with a bucket and a torch and starting picking them off walls and from behind climbers where they like to hide. Set slug traps or protect tender new growth by surrounding them with a protective collar of sharp grit.

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