The garden was at a standstill as we entered March, with rain every day. Mind you, it’s still too early to think of sowing anything outdoors yet. It’s best to wait until near April when soil conditions will be more suitable to start the spring sowing.

We have most seeds sown in trays in the glasshouse. The lettuce, scallions and tomato seedlings are coming on well and have had no setbacks. Last week we sowed cabbage, cauliflower and celery seeds as well as flower seeds.

The broad bean seeds that were sown last autumn are thriving thanks to all of the mild weather we’ve had this winter. We had to stake them last week as the storms tossed them about a bit.

It is too soon to sow peas outdoors as they need warm weather to get them going. We planted our early potatoes in the middle of March but got caught with frost just as they came up, so we will wait until near April before planting again.

Now is a good time to check over root veg stored over the winter and discard any that have gone off. Main crop potatoes stored in sheds need to be turned now and any decayed ones disposed of. Apples are coming to the end of their season also and should be used up now. A tasty way to use them up is to make some good old-fashioned apple dumpling. It’s also hard to beat a nice apple tart.

In a recent letter sent to the Irish Farmers Journal, a reader was worried about the extension to the hedge cutting season as it was going to harm wildlife. I personally think spraying poisonous toxins on crops is killing our bees – one little insect we cannot do without. Without them we would not have apples or strawberries, to name just a few.

Another pest is the buzzard, it may be a lovely bird but it is causing devastation to our little wild birds, hardly any come to our garden to feed anymore.

I think whoever brought them to this country did not think of what they would do to the lovely swallows and other birds. I have seen entire nests of little birds left to die.

So, for now, hopefully the weather changes for the better so that the spring work can get started on farms and in gardens.