Gardening: Going stir crazy? Here are Brian Kidd's jobs for the week ahead

• Hardy annuals such as godetia, pot marigolds and cornflowers (lots of others too) can be sown directly into the soil for a quick display of flowers. Plant little pinches of seed about a foot apart and in five weeks, prick them out where gaps can be seen. A nice job for children because these flowers bloom quickly.

• Evergreen shrubs can be moved now, it may seem too late but lots of evergreens become scorched if they are moved during winter. Spray the foliage once a day to keep the leaves turgid, rather than keeping the soil too wet.

• Prune forsythia and other spring-flowering shrubs as soon as the flowers finish blooming. If this seems a little daunting, pull back an outer branch and you will see where the dead flowers are. Now look down to where there is a side growth and cut off the stem right down to that side growth. Now pull another branch towards you and do the same thing right the way around the shrub.

• Plant water lilies or split existing ones. When planting into baskets, use loam and cover the top with a layer of grit, this helps prevent too much soil leaving the surface of the container and prevents the water becoming polluted.

• Sow seeds of primulas which are grown in greenhouses. Try some primula malacoides or primula kewensis. Primula obconica is another beautiful plant but some folk are allergic to the hairs on the leaves, the others don’t cause this problem. Sow all primula seeds in the light. They won’t germinate in darkness.

• Plant dahlia tubers outdoors but be prepared to cover the shoots as they grow above the soil level otherwise frost will cause the rapidly growing shoots to become blackened.

• Plant newly-purchased clematis plants in well-prepared ground two inches deeper than the surface in the pot. Try to find a 12in-long piece of plastic down pipe to put over the stem and press the end of the pipe into the soil to a depth of two inches. This reduces the possibility of clematis wilt by more than 75 per cent.

• Remove dead leaves around the bases of bearded iris plants, this will enhance the overall appearance of the plant which is admired not only for the flower but the foliage too. It looks wonderful alongside all forms of hosta.