We have had a slow start to spring gardening in the UK but the season has brought itself back into order. A month ago it seemed as if May would be over before April ended. Cold nights, wet chilly days and an unseasonal absence of sun have slowed everything, including gardeners. I admit to weekends of half-hearted lethargy, using the cold and the rain as an excuse.

At last the soil is warming up and it is time for one of the year’s most enjoyable jobs. Seeds of hardy annuals can be sown now wherever you can find bare patches of earth. If you have pots, but no garden, you can sow annuals too, starting them in boxes and transplanting them in two or three weeks’ time, when the spring bulbs are going over and it is time for a change.