MARCH

Plant flowers to give colour all through winter – annuals like polyanthus, pansies, poppies and primulas, or perennials like wallflowers or winter-blooming agapanthus or red-hot poker varieties. Harvest apples, peaches, pears, berries and all the sun-warmed produce of summer and autumn. If you don’t have a backyard harvest, this is the time to plan one. Even a row of big pots on a patio can be filled with dwarf fruit trees for future bounty. Mulch and take advantage of the natural autumn “growth spurt”; feed everything, preferably on top of the mulch so you don’t burn plant roots, and water in well.