• Keep an eye out for slugs and snails, especially after rain showers. Protect vulnerable seedlings and plants.
  • Sow hardy annual seeds for seasonal colour for later in the year.
  • Daffodils which have been forced can be knocked out of their pots and planted among trees and shrubs to establish themselves for next year.
  • Give roses, fruit and veg a dressing of fertiliser. In dry weather use dry feeds, hoeing them into the surface.
  • Thin young raspberry canes.
  • Sow cinerarias now for flower at Christmas.
  • Support peas with plastic green support mesh from the garden centre or use twiggy sticks and prunings from other shrubs in the garden.
  • Feed blackcurrants, blackberries and hybrid berries with a high-nitrogen feed to give them a welcome boost.
  • Plant container-grown fruit trees.
  • Thin shoots on perennials such as delphiniums, lupins and phlox, removing about one in three or four of the shoots depending on how crowded they are.
  • Continue to plant summer bulbs including gladiolus, dahlias and cannas.