RHS wants us to get gardening

THE spring equinox is coming up on March 20, which means a new season is here at last and the days are getting warmer.

Whatever outside space you have access to — a garden, a balcony, window boxes, an allotment or even a community garden — there are plenty of gardening jobs to do this month, according to the Royal Horticultural Society.

The first job on the society’s list is pruning bush and climbing roses. It recommends lifting and dividing overgrown clumps of perennials, and pruning plants that are grown for their colourful stems, like dogwood and willow.

Now is also a good time to prepare flowerbeds, start sowing seeds, put fresh compost on containers, get rid of weeds as soon as they appear, and protect new spring shoots from slugs.

The society says that March is a good time for planting summer-flowering bulbs including gladioli and lilies, as well as early potatoes, onion sets and shallots.