Weekly jobs

Prepare outdoor seedbeds for March sowings – clear weeds and cover with polythene or horticultural fleece to warm the soil up.

Plant summerflowering bulbs such as lilies, liatris, begonia and gladioli in pots indoors.

Prune winterflowering shrubs such as mahonia, pictured

below and viburnum when they have finished putting on their display.

Apply well-rotted farmyard manure or garden compost around rhubarb crops.

Bulbs that were forced to flower indoors, such as hyacinth, can be planted outdoors now.

Protect blossoms on apricots and peaches from frosts with horticultural fleece.

Sow tender crops such as tomato, chilli and cucumber and put in a heated propagator or on a sunny windowsill.