As March approaches, gardeners need to start thinking about planning for summer, as well as tending to over-wintered plants.

• Plan your summer bedding displays
• Order your ready-grown plant plugs from a nursery or catalogue
• Sow annual seeds undercover to avoid risk of frost damage
• If the soil isn’t frozen or waterlogged, dig in 5-10cms of well-rotted manure to improve the soil, then add pelleted chicken manure or fish, blood, and bone to feed the soil
• Feed shrubs and trees with a slow-release fertilizer
• Plant summer flowering bulbs such as gladiolus and lilies
• Plant snowdrops in grassland so that they will be ready for flowering next year
• Lift and divide herbaceous perennials e.g. aster, geranium, campanile to create more plants and rejuvenate old clumps
• Plant herbaceous perennials
• Prune roses and feed with a specialist rose fertilizer