Before you start planting, make room for what you want to grow. With plenty of rainfall throughout winter and little competition for space or nutrients, weeds (especially capeweed) have taken the opportunity to stake their claim in any space they can fit. To give your produce, flowers and lawn the best chance of surviving, pull or hoe any unwanted weeds from the ground.

Keith Macdonald from Bendigo’s Macdonalds Nursery says nothing happens without proper preparation, and recommends adding a high quality compost such as Zoo Gro to the soil. “We’re in mining country, not farming country, so the soil’s pretty horrible and you need to do some work to improve the soil structure so your plants will grow much better (with) less fertiliser and less water.” If you've been gardening in the same spot for a while, adding new top soil will give extra nutrients to the plants you want to grow in spring and summer. 

Keith advises not to prune plums, apricot, peach and magnolia trees until they finish flowering, and then to prune them reasonably hard which will encourage new growth and produce quality flowers and fruit next season. Pruning also removes any diseased parts of the tree or areas infested with pests.

Keith says spring is the time to plant vegetables such as kale, silverbeet, spinach, rocket and broccoli, and herbs like thyme, sage and dill. On the flower front, this is the season for petunias, and in the coming weeks Keith recommends you plant salvias, marigold, begonias and patience. “You’ll have a really good show for Christmas and in most cases they’ll go through to autumn for you.” 

According to Keith, buffalo, couch and kikuri varieties of lawn are still feeling the effects of winter, so treat them to a good quality lawn food. Plant seeds in the bald patches and ensure they’re given plenty of water and fertiliser to start growing. Before it gets too hot you should also aerate your lawn, either with a fork or specially designed shoes.

Covering garden beds and around the base of trees with 5cm of mulch for protection not only defends roots and the ground from the sun’s heat, it helps the soil retain moisture which is vital for growth. Do this after you've removed weeds and added fertiliser. Keith prefers organic mulch such as lucerne, pea straw, sugar cane, and similar varieties that break down easily.