The weather for the week ahead looks actually quite good. Best day is Monday morning with sunny spells! The rest of the week is cloudy with light rain on Monday and Tuesday afternoons. The night-time temperatures are 5-6 C degrees and during the day from 8-11 C degrees with easterly winds.

Sometimes we have to take the weather forecast with a pinch of salt, it can change from one day to the next! But it is so very welcome to get milder and positively warm days when the sun is shining.

It is a very good time to move perennial plants to their final setting for this season as well as sowing seeds. The Carrot and Parsnip seeds will enjoy the light rain showers and warmer temperatures. So too the Peas and Broad Beans we have planted, with these we have laid netting over them until the seeds have germinated and they are big enough to stop  being a temptation for the pigeons!

Now the freezing weather has passed we have taken the decision to prune back the Buddleia, Cornus and Sambucus. I have stuck healthy-looking sticks from the prunings into a shady part of the garden and hopefully they will become new plants by the end of the year. I am still waiting a week or two to see if there is any young growth coming from the Fuchsias before pruning them.

With the Roses shooting new buds I have given them a generous amount of dung last week. I am also watering any bare-rooted Roses (which have just been planted) every week for the next two months.

There is still weeding to be done every day but not nearly as much as last year!! I am trying to bring on Begonias and Dahlias and shall be delighted to see what happens. This week there are small Tussock grasses to plant out and cuttings to take from our Weigela shrubs. No doubt I will find many more small tasks to keep me out of mischief!