This month’s article is different to any that we’ve written before for fairly obvious reasons. Official healthcare advice is emphasising the importance of social isolation. However, both exercise and retaining a positive outlook are vital to good health (both physical and mental). Therefore, if you are physically able and have access to a garden or allotment, this spring is a time to throw yourself into gardening. Not only is it good physical exercise, many of the tasks are based on optimism. We sow seeds in the expectation of plants in the future; we prune now to have healthier plants later in the year and so on.

As spring progresses, some early flowering shrubs such as Forsythia and Chaenomeles will be getting past their peak, so now is the perfect time to prune them. Next year’s Forsythia flowers will come on this year’s growth, so you can take it back quite a long way if desired. You can also trim back Lavender now to prevent it getting woody, and it will help generate bushy flowering shoots. Similarly it is an ideal time to prune woody herbs such as thyme, sage and rosemary, all of which can get leggy without a bit of attention.

Early April is prime potato planting time. As shoots emerge, make sure that you keep them earthed up to increase the yield and to protect the tender tips from late frosts.

Earthing up potatoes

Now is also the time to sow more tender crops such as beans, squashes and courgettes under cover ready for planting out in May. Prick out tomatoes, aubergines etc. that you’ve already sown once the true leaves emerge to develop strong individual plants.

Keep well and stay positive.