14th March 2010:

■ In mild areas, sow peas, broad beans, parsnips and carrots.

■ Continue planting lily bulbs.

■ Order onion sets, shallots and seed potatoes. Stocks are already running low.

■ Cut back hedges before birds start to nest.

■ Prune large flowered clematis.

■ Start to prune roses, removing dead, damaged or diseased stems.

■ Sow sweet peas.

■ Plant winter aconites and snowdrops ‘in the green’.

■ Keep off the grass during frosty weather.

■ Prune autumn-fruiting raspberries back to ground level.

■ Prune fruit trees, removing dead, damaged or diseased branches.

■ Keep feeding the birds.

■ Trim and tidy evergreen grasses and cut deciduous grass back to ground level before growth starts

■ Prick out seedlings before true leaves develop

■ Sow tomatoes, peppers and aubergines from seed in a heated propagator

■ Dig in over-wintered green manures in preparation for planting in a couple of weeks

■ Sow peas into lengths of guttering ready to slide them into position in the garden later this month

Continue planting new trees, hedges, climbers and roses especially where you have had winter losses.

Camellia’s the perfect flowering shrub for March.