We have enjoyed some wonderful warm days already this year and the late spring flowers are everywhere to be seen. Yellow dominates, its brightness attracting early pollinators with the lower light levels – wands of forsythia in peoples gardens festooned with its cups of an almost offensive brightness; star-like celandines littering verges and wood-land edges; you may catch the last of the wild daffodils at Dunsford nature reserve, one of England’s largest gathering of these nectar rich plants. It was only 50 years ago that daffodils here were becoming a rare sight due to picking by unthinking visitors but changes in legislation and work by Devon Wildlife Trust now ensure this a spectacle enjoyed by humans and a boon for wildlife.

It is easy to get carried away in the garden but keep the horticultural fleece close this month. Seed sowing can start in earnest – a sunnyish window-sill will suffice, although a greenhouse is an investment that comes highly recommended. I love to escape into that warm, dry shelter; hearing the rain drum down on the roof wishing I had more space as I cram more seeds onto every horizontal surface. A visiting mouse has been causing havoc to my efforts but now with sprigs of holly covering the trays and an additional protection of cloches, seeds are well on their way. A long-time gardener friend recommended hanging shelves as an effective ways to deter these furry visitors! Crops like Lettuce germinate quickly even in the cooler temperatures and can be planted out anytime. The tight-heads of Cos lettuce can be cropped a few leaves at a time from the outer layers. If you are feeding a family, I love the ‘Red Iceberg’, lovely contrasting red and white leaves and stands well for a long time.  As with a lot of these quicker germinating vegetables, the trick is to sow every couple of weeks – A glut of lettuce, and lettuce soup can be a hard sell to my kids!

Raised beds can be a great option for growing fruit, vegetable or how about herbs? Herbs will do especially well in a sunny spot with the extra drainage from the raised soil level. It can be an effective  way of losing some old rubble in your garden by building raised beds, utilising the rubble at the base. I love to try and get some changes in level to add some interest to a flat plot. The beds can be made from various materials – wood, stone or bricks.  There are a lot of recycled plastic options on the market now, with pros and cons of each choice.  Herb beds are ideally situated as near to the kitchen as possible and can be some of the most useful of all eco- garden plants. For visual appeal and a favourite with the bees is Borage, a reliable self-seeder that renews itself year-on-year. Chives are an early starter and have already been harvested a couple of times raw in salads – I’ll leave some for their lovely nectar rich flowers and cut them to ground level when they’ve gone to seed for a continuous crop through to till early Autumn.

As new growth appears on fruit trees and shrubs, it is a good time to give them a feed. Home-produced compost is ideal but if not loose manure from a local farm is better than pre-plastic-packed manure from garden centres. The organic fertilisers from chicken or sheep manure I find effective, just sprinkle liberally round base of plants and water them well if no rain due. I often use organic insect ‘Frass’, very apt in this climate of ‘vaccines’, a by-product of meal-worm castings, it encourages plants to trigger their natural immunity to insect attacks as well being chock-full of nutrients. It is worth noting that improving soil has an immediate benefit of locking up and storing atmospheric carbon thus helping reduce build-up of greenhouse gases.