GARDENING: Get out your boots, the new gardening season's here!

As Irene Strange says, '˜when March comes in like a lion, it goes out like a lamb', so get out your boots and garden tools, the season is here!

The books say March is the big sowing month in the veg garden and here we try to be ready for it. This year the weather decided otherwise. Remember, our season starts early but extends later. If you are a little late to begin, you will still get very good crops.

Plant onions, garlic, and broad beans as soon as you can. A good idea is to cover the ground with cloches or plastic a week before sowing to help the soil warm and dry. Follow with carrots, early potatoes, early peas etc.

Trust the ground and the weather, not the date! Sow tender crops indoors. Peppers are slow and like heat, so use a heated propagator. Tomatoes don't require as much heat, so a warm window will do.

It's your last chance to prune roses.

Summer bedding is better off inside until May, so if you're growing from seed, keep plants cosy until then.

Good luck!