After erratic weather in March when we had some frost, rain and strong winds, we progress into spring – the weather should improve with warmer conditions, daylight lasting longer and those at work can get out at night while those of us retired have more time in the garden.

So what’s to be done. If you’ve sown or laid a new lawn or patched up worn patches it will benefit from rolling or if you don’t have a roller then patting down using the back of a spade. Still don’t scalp the lawn but you can cut down to ½ inch [3cm]. With old lawns the edges can get very ragged so it’s a good idea to get a length of wood and use it to get a straight edge with the spade.

You should now be finished pruning your roses so feed them with a rose feed and hoe it in round the bush. Look out for aphids and remove them by squashing between thumb and finger. Any newly planted roses need water if there is no heavy rain and should be mulched with old compost or lawn cuttings to help get them established. For the dahlia grower, if you’ve kept them frost free indoors now is the time to get them out. If they are withered then put them to soak overnight and they will in time show shoots. As they grow to 2/3 inches they are ideal as cuttings so remove the bottom leaves and place in a pot close to the side. They can grow in a cold frame or unheated greenhouses and should frost be forecast just cover with newspaper but try to ventilate during the day if possible.

With sweet peas, as they get a few inches high and you want to grow them up canes [cordon style] remove the side shoots and tendrils. Sweet peas make wonderful flowers for indoors but do not last many days; when grown cordon style you will get nice long stems but you need to keep them watered and fed.

Anybody with a garden pond should now have frog spawn showing but unfortunately if you’ve got fish in the pond they seem to eat the frog spawn. Taking out the frogspawn and placing in a large container full of pond water is rarely successful but worth a try – after all frogs will help to control slugs.

The time of year sees Forsythia coming into flower. If you’ve a lot of stems in flower they are very decorative as cut flowers in the house and the cutting off of a few stems is not an any way detrimental to the bush and they will last for many days. Forsythia is a very easy bush to grow and once established only needs the annual pruning. Daffodils are now in full glory although different varieties flower at different times so spreading the display. As the flowers fade and seed heads form it is time to remove just the seed head but not any leaves. If you don’t do this, the plant will just use the energy generated by the leaves to develop seeds [no good at all] so the plan is just remove the seed head and let the energy go down to next year’s bulb; leave all the leaves to slowly fade, taking about 6 weeks, but do not cut the leaves off.

If you have a spare plot of soil about one metre square why not try a few runner beans. A packet of seeds is not expensive and you’ll need a few bamboo canes, again not expensive, say 8 feet long. Form a pyramid by fastening the canes at the top, they will climb up canes and you will get a beautiful crop of vegetables.