This year has already proved to be quite dry and it makes sense to think about drought resistant plants. If you live in a part of the country with low rainfall drought resistant plants will be easier to grow and less maintenance, and as our summers seem to turn warmer, these plants are invaluable in the border. 

Just a few tips around the perennial question of when to plant out bedding: not yet.

This question comes up regularly and the important point is that almost all bedding plants are tender, which means not frost hardy.

But there is more, it is not just frost, most bedding plants do not like cold and if planted out in a chilly spell it can set them back,  slow down their growth, and a prolonged cold spell may cause the leaves to discolour.

Its testing, but time to wait. As a general rule of thumb most parts of the country are frost free by the end of May but still check out the forecast and if temperatures are low, keep the bedding plants tucked up warm. Our weather has become very variable, one week it's unseasonably warm, another week the east wind bites. 

We can still have an unexpected late frost, and if so you need to cover the bedding plants, if you can, to protect them. Predicting the weather is not easy but as gardeners we must do our best!

More tips about growing bedding plants

Which are the best bedding plants to grow?

We look forward to the Daffodil season and so it is doubly disappointing if instead of cheery yellow or white flowers everywhere there are just leaves.

The good news is that if you are looking at patches of bulbs which have not flowered now is the time to take the measure of them and persuade them to bloom next year. 

A high potassium feed, such as tomato feed, will help especially if they are growing on poor soil. The bulbs for next year will be forming over the coming weeks so feed them if it is dry water them and remove any flower heads (not the greenery) when the flowers have faded.

If you have a nagging feeling that maybe the bulbs  were planted too shallow, they need to be 3xbulb depth now is also the time to dig them up. Check the depth and  then replant at least 3 times the depth of the bulb.

More about why spring bulbs do not flower.

Hopefully, you will not be so disappointed next year.

Some sunshine and fine weather gives a chance to get out into the garden. This warm weather and rise in temperatures will aid germination so now is a good time to start sowing seeds. At this time of year it is important to find somewhere warm to place the trays and grow on the seedlings.

It is still early in the year, and there will be plenty of cold weather to come which means it is best to start with the more hardy seeds. I have just sown around 100 Sweet Peas, a tray of Broad Beans and another tray of Chives. That is a lot of chives, I grow them chiefly for the bees who love them, and to edge the veg plot to attract pollinators. 

Assuming the weather holds this is a good time to prune Clematis. This is an area of difficulty for many gardeners but if Clematis are not pruned the flowers will be higher and higher on the plant, and become less.

There are lots of  tips about pruning Clematis, and remember only to prune Groups 2 & 3. The one Clematis not to prune, are the early flowering types such as Montana,illustrated.

This is also the time to prune Buddleja and if you are growing strawberries, as I am, they will need a clean up. Most will have tired old leaves which all need to be cleared away. I then cover the plants with a cloche to induce an earlier strawberry crop. Tips on growing strawberries.

Lovely to get out into the garden and these jobs can all be tackled throughout February.  

The weather continues fine and I pruned 3 Clematis, all mid summer flowering Group 2 clematis. Hopefully the good prune will ensure some lovely summer flowers. Below are three images, before pruning and note the tangled mess of branches particularly the weight of top growth. After pruning and you can see the shrub is much reduced down to around waist height and all the top growth has been removed. Any dead stems have also been cut off and the growth tied in. The third image is a close up from which you can see that growth is cut back, wherever possible, to good buds.

Don't worry about pruning Clematis they are relatively tough, and vigorous. Providing you do not prune the early flowering types (check out types of Clematis,) and you cut to a framework of buds around waist height you will not go far wrong.