Despite the current increase in temperature frosts are still a hazard, so keep your plants protected. Cold winds can be a problem so ensure that exposed plants are properly supported.

Now is a time for a bit of a ‘spring clean’:

• Dig over borders
• Incorporate as much organic matter as you can
• Remove moss and weeds from paths, terraces and driveways

Growing vegetables

Hardy vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli, radishes and beets, can be planted from seed as soon as the soil begins to warm up.

Vegetable seeds can be started indoors for earlier flowers and produce. Plant seeds three to six weeks before they are to be planted outside.

Flowers

Gladiolus and begonia bulbs can be planted now. For a continuous bloom of gladiolus, plant some every two weeks until mid July.

Spring flowering shrubs, such as forsythia and lilacs, could be pruned now, but flowers will be cut off if they are pruned before they bloom. Wait until summer to prune plants that are too big.

Roses should be pruned in late February or early March to remove old, unproductive and thin, weak canes. Bush types are cut to 12 to 18″ tall. Shrub roses should be left about three feet tall. Climbers should be thinned if tangled.