With the cherry blossom on the trees maybe we have now turned the corner, the garden is starting to wake up and new growth starting to appear.  Colour has started to return, from the tulips and daffodils to the Camellia and Hellebores.

Now the work for the year begins, but don't get too excited or carried away.  There are still a few more frost to come and so be careful about what you plant out unprotected.

• Flower Garden
  • Once the daffodils and narcissi have finished flowering they should be dead-headed, this lets them divert more energy into their bulbs.
  • If your snowdrops are flowering poorly they may be overcrowded, lift and divide them to reinvigorate them next year.
  • Buddleja davidii, the popular 'butterfly bush,' flowers best if it is pruned back to the old wood now, cutting off the stems that flowered last year and encouraging vigorous new ones to sprout.
  • Start to plant some of those summer-flowering classics such as Lupins, Coneflowers, and Phlox
• Vegetable Garden
  • Now is the time to 'chit' seed potatoes before planting. This means placing them in a clean box or tray - seed trays or old egg trays are ideal - and keeping them in a cool (8-10°C), light place, where they will produce strong sturdy shoots to give an earlier crop.
  • As the soil starts to warm up start sowing some hardy seeds such as Beetroot, Broad beans, Brussels Sprouts (sow an early variety now to harvest in September e.g. Peer Gynt, Oliver), Lettuce (sow outdoors from mid-March), Onions, Radish (sow summer varieties, such as French Breakfast, Sparkler, Scarlet Globe), Shallots, Parsnip, Peas (e.g. Feltham First, Meteor)
• Wildlife Garden
  • Continue to supply food to the birds.
  • Put up a bird box, or even some ladybird and insect boxes.
• Water Gardener
  • .If you, like me, turn your pump and filter off over winter, now is a good time to clean out the filter and get the pump going again.
  • On warm days you can give the fish a gentle feed.  If they are not interested, then don't feed them any more for a few days. 
  • If you have any marginals that are taking over a bit, now is a good time to divide them.  This can be fairly hard work as some of the root balls are dense!
•  General Tasks
  • If you are planning on planting any new hedge lines this year now is the time to do it ... particularly if you are using native species such as hawthorn or hazel.
  • If it is a clear and dry day, it is not too early to get the mower out.  This early though set the blades nice and high, the aim is to trim the worst of the clumps of grass.