Now that the shortest day has passed and the days are getting lighter and hopefully warmer, us gardeners will be itching to get outside and get going! A word of warning, however, the soil will still be very wet and it is advisable to keep off it as much as possible as trampling will compact it, pushing out all the air and damaging the structure.
If you haven't done so on the wet, dark day, then now is a good time to browse through those seed catalogues and plan your Summer displays and also to tidy and organise your garden sheds and greenhouses. Those lawnmowers and strimmers may need cleaning or servicing before too long.
If you are lucky enough to own a heated greenhouse, then you could plant up dahlia and begonia tubers in trays or pots of compost, and try sowing sweet peas, statice, tomatoes, lettuce etc - and if not, just wait until the weather improves in April to sow outside.
Shallots and Jerusalem artichokes can be planted straight into the garden in February or March and late-flowering shrubs such as buddleia and ceanothus - as well as winter-flowering heathers and Autumn-fruiting raspberries can be pruned.
It is a good idea to apply organic-based fertilisers to all borders and new plantings (eg seaweed meal, blood, fish and bone or pelleted chicken manure) so that they will be available to plants just as they start into growth in the spring.
March is generally the accepted time for pruning bush and shrub roses - but leave the ramblers until later in the year or you will lose this year's flowers. As the weather improves summer flowering bulbs such as gladioli can be planted to give you a cheap, but glorious display and early potatoes can be put directly into the ground - or into containers to provide a luscious crop.
April is the best time of year to sow a lot of seeds in the greenhouse and other earlier sowings will need to be hardened off in a cold frame.
Outside, lettuce, peas onions etc can be sown and once the spring display of daffodils is over they will need to be dead-headed. It is best to leave at least six weeks after the flowers have faded before you do this to allow the leaves time to build up enough energy in the bulb to provide a good display for the next year.
Weather permitting, the grass will start growing and it will be time to get the lawn mowers out. Set them reasonably high to start off with- before lowering the blades as the season progresses.
If we get a good early Spring you may be tempted to buy bargain bedding plants from a garden centre - but my advice is DON'T.
Unless you have plenty of space to store them and harden them off, then these are best left until May, preferably the middle of the month, otherwise they will succumb to any late frosts and be killed, Feel free to plant up your hanging baskets however, if you are lucky enough to have a heated greenhouse ...
Finally, even though buds are bursting and insect life is stirring, food is still very scarce for the garden birds - so don't forget to feed them, even if weather conditions seem to be improving.
Helen Christie
Ed: Thanks Helen! Helen has kindly agreed to write for us each issue, giving the benefit of her extensive knowledge - if you have any gardening tips you'd like to add, please forward to the team - it's easy to contribute see the outside back page for details.
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