The spring is almost here. Now's the time to step outside again and give a hand to the garden. The garden is the place where all our daily stresses can rapidly leave us and any garden be transformed into a place of beauty, hermitage and solitude.

• While many seeds, bulbs, plants and trees are slowly waking up, it's  now a good time to do any landscaping work, laying paths or decking, re-shaping the vegetable patch, building the pavilion or even constructing or cleaning the garden pond. in a few weeks the garden will be exploding with life  and birds starting to nest, so do the heavy work and any construction work in the upcoming weeks.

• Prepare the beds for direct planting or sowing by weeding, feeding/mulching and raking.

• Set up a greenhouse or cold frame, to get things growing early, and protect plants from late frost.

• Check the outdoor planting containers are regularly watered, particularly those sheltered by house porches.

• Ventilate the glasshouse/conservatory on mild February days to prevent fungal and wood rot problems.

• Consider moving or replacing damaged, overgrown or wrongly located shrubs.

• Visit the local garden centre and stock up on plant pots, peat free compost and organic fertiliser for a good spring start.

• Its possible to plant seeds such as Basil, Sage & Thyme now in pots on south or west facing windows for an early start. Full guide to planting your seeds successfully will be here in the next week.

• February is a good time to prune hardy evergreen hedges and cut back the wisteria if it's getting out of control.

•  February/early March are the best months to get the bulbs in the ground, its fine active meditative work, which will give us a profusion of flowers in the Summer and Autumn. Anemone, Gladiolis, Lillies all give great colour and give the garden a deeper character.

• February is the last chance to prune apple and pear trees for a bigger, healthier fruit yield. Pruning apple and pear trees after mid march can seriously damage the tree.

• &  don't forget to keep the bird feeders/baths well filled and clean.

Peter Carvello

January 2024