After the big cut back that took place at the end of February and beginning of March, I made all the edits that needed to happen ahead of the summer. Splitting and moving plants and making additions and edits where changes might be needed for the sake of the new energy they provide. Next came the mulching, the finishing protective eiderdown which keeps moisture in and weeds and seedlings down. These tasks were happening right through until the end of April and just last week I was winkling plants in that I’d had sitting in the cold frames needing a home.

As apple blossom gave way to hawthorn in the last fortnight, the garden has reared up and away into the growing season. Bare soil and visible mulch swallowed up in fresh new growth and the handover from spring to early summer. If you haven’t caught those last few weeds in this window, they will become part of the borders and gaps that just a fortnight ago felt large enough to receive something new have quickly closed over. This is the moment you realise that, if you haven’t done it yet, then spring jobs are now best left until autumn.