In the vegetable garden:
Plan and prepare where everything will go for your spring, and even summer, garden. You can do this on a piece of paper or just by marking the ground with sticks.
Take care to include crop rotation in your plans as well as companion planting. Get the beds ready by either layering a good thick cake of well-rotted material on top of the beds or by digging in or trenching manure or seaweed.
Start sowing carrots, beets, radish, lettuce, onions; plant garlic, and brassicas. Start chitting, or sprouting, potatoes in a warm dry place. Plant strawberries and herbs like thyme, oregano and sage. Split and re-pot french tarragon.
Sow chillies and eggplant in containers. These will need to be kept in a warm place like a cold frame or hothouse until the weather warms up but it's worth getting these going early as they can take a while to bear fruit - you may even want to use a poly tunnel when you do plant them in the ground which will accelerate early development.
In the fruit garden:
If you haven't finished - or started - your pruning, then get it done now. The sap will soon be on the rise and deciduous trees and roses will be putting on a right old show. Plant fruit trees, deciduous ornamentals and roses. Getting these in the ground before the weather warms will ensure maximum growth in the first year which will give you a stronger tree overall. Remember to take care with soil preparation and stake and tie well using arboricultural ties.
In the flower garden:
Trim early growth off hedges. This is a very light trim so don't take the new growth right off, just enough for the hedge to bifurcate which will thicken up the new growth. Take care with flowering hedges. Once they start to produce flower buds it's too late, as trimming the hedge while in bud, will radically reduce flowering.
Plant flowers for spring such as begonia, snapdragon, carnation, cornflower, dianthus, stock, delphinium, alyssum, forget-me-not, larkspur, linum, lobelia, cosmos, lupin, marigold, nemesia, pansy, sweet william, celosia, petunia, phlox, zinnias, portulaca, salvia, linaria, statice, sweet peas, violas, candytuft and poppies.
In the compost bin:
Remove any compost from compost bin and turn it, adding light brown material if it is too wet or fresh lawn clippings if it is too dry. As you reinstall it into the compost bin, water in each 100mm layer if the mix is too dry, then cover with polythene. - The New Zealand Herald