The question comes round every year: when can I plant out my bedding plants? The shops and on line are full of bedding plants and young vegetable plants. The answer is when all risk of frost has passed. What is more difficult is judging when that maybe which will vary depending on where you are in the country and the aspect of your garden.

Bedding plants are tender and can be very damaged or killed by frost, as are many vegetable plants such as tomatoes, cucumbers, squashes,  courgettes  chillies. Some veg are more hardy than others; broad beans are hardier than french beans, strawberries are hardy and sweet peas will take a good degree of chill but all grow better in the warmth and frost can be damaging.

My garden is both cold and wet a tricky combination so I will not plant out for some time. The risk of frost has usually left most parts of the UK by end May, but it depends on the area. Many sheltered areas in towns, south west parts of Wales will be frost free from the end of April.

Check the area and forecast and if the worst happens you need to cover with a cloche or fleece.

If your garden is in a colder area bedding and small veg plants can be grown on under glass in a cold frame, greenhouse or conservatory. A good idea is to plant up a hanging basket and grow it in the greenhouse allowing the plants to mature in the protected environment.

Plants need to be "hardened off" before planting outside. This means getting the plant used to the less clement weather outside by putting the plants outside on mild days for longer and longer periods not just taking straight from the greenhouse and planting out side chances are the plant will sulk for a while from the shock.

To get the best from bedding plants, especially those such as petunia and verbena which can become leggy especially towards the end of the season pinch out the growing point early on. In the images below on the left is the growing point, pinch it out as in central image so it is completely removed as in final image. Do this on all the growing points stopping back the plant and preventing it from flowering to begin with so you get a good bushy shape.

There are many plants which are easy to grow from seed and the three in these images, Broad bean, Sweet Pea,  Courgettes and cucumbers are all easy to germinate and grow.

At this time of year, whilst it is still cold with occasional frosts, the seedlings need frost protection either a conservatory, greenhouse or under glass.

Broad beans, and all the bean family, have large seeds which are easy to sow and quick to germinate. Late in May all beans can be sown direct into the veg plot, but at this stage indoors is best. Beans are best in root trainers to accommodate their long roots and need no more than regular turning to prevent uneven growth as they pull towards the light, and watering. In this tray of Broad beans there are old seeds from previous year, saved seed from last years plants and new seed purchased 2015 and miraculously all have germinated. All beans are easy to grow; tips on planting and getting a successful crop.

Sweet peas are quick to germinate, they have small but easy to manage round seeds. Many guides advise soaking seed overnight and to nick it to aid germination. I haven't ever done either and have had very good germination year after year. One important step once the seedlings are established is to pinch out the top grow and if you look at the image there is no growing point. I have pinched it back which makes the plant produce more shoots,  as you don't really want just one long sweet pea but for it to produce many stems. Sweet peas are a bit fussy but very rewarding;  lots of growing tips including how to get those lovely straight stems.

Courgette and cucumbers have large and very similar seeds which when they first germinate look very similar. They are of course from the same family and I  have labelled them to ensure they don't get mixed up. I always think I will remember what I have seeded and the variety, but I don't, labelling is better than memory. Both courgettes and cucumbers are more tender and amongst the last veg to be planted out. It is best to delay until the weather has warmed up. The cucumber is an indoor variety and will be grown on in the greenhouse; home grown cucumbers really do taste best and they are easy to grow.

All seedlings need careful watering to make sure they do not dry out and regular turning to keep them growing straight and avoid the seedling being leggy. In the event a seedling is leggy, one tip when re potting is to plant it deeper burying some of the leggy stem in the pot.

One of the great things about a garden pond is the wildlife attracted to it. Ponds really are a magnet for wildlife and that includes frogs. Each March the frogs turn up, at the same time almost to the day, to spawn in the pond and for several days the pond is alive with dozens of frogs in their desperate attempt to mate. They appear as if from nowwhere to make thousands of frogs spawn from which just a few will survive the many changes in the weather and predators.

Frog's spawn can be killed by cold, frost and by drying out, and is also subjected to many predators, foxes, hedgehogs, and more usually birds and fish. The frogs only mate once a year so this is their chance . The video shows the frogs spawning and the next generation will emerge later in the year.

Ideas for encouraging wildlife into the garden and images on Pinterest.

Frogs really are a gardener's friend as the main part of their diet are slugs and snails with slugs a high proportion of their diet. As a frog can live up to 10 years that's a lot of slugs disposed of.

Is it spring or not?

Hard to say  judging by our weather which is so mixed. Last weekend in the garden it was spring like, almost warm and gardening in shirt sleeves with no jumper and it did feel like spring was just around the corner, ready to arrive.  Now it is  cold sleety and very wet, too wet to work on the borders and I retreated to the greenhouse to fill the root trainers and trays with seeds.

 At this time when it is still very early in the season, I  germinate using a warm heated mat under the propagators and keep the seedlings in the conservatory because it is several degrees warmer than the greenhouse.  I hold back  from seeding the most tender of the veg, such as french beans and annuals such as the climbing annual Ipomoea. There is still a chill, even in a conservatory and I find racking with plastic covers very helpful, adding in an extra layer of insulation until it gets warmer.

Later  say early April I will seed the more tender plants and start moving trays of seedings, which will by then be more established, out of the conservatory and into the greenhouse ready for hardening off. The conservatory is not heated but it is just warm and sheltered enough at this time of year  to make it ideal for growing on seedlings. For more advice and tips on sowing seeds and germination The Sunday Gardeners March Calendar and why not sign up for the monthly newsletter for regular advice all the year round.

In the garden the Hellebores are in full flower and I find them irresistible. The variety and colours are lovely, so delicate the flowers and they look great as a cut flowers in vase where it is possible to admire their dappled colouring more closely. Home grown veg is good but so too are home grown flowers.

The images show how attractive the Hellebore flowers are in close up, which could overlook the fact that Hellebores make lovely clumps of flowers with many blooms. They look great in a woodland setting and I am currently clearing a bank to plant another dozen which I hope will get established over the summer ready for a really good display this time next year. The advantage of planting them on a bank is to see into the flower heads and they will colonised the bank over time. Hellebores are an easy to grow perennial.