If there is time over Easter and the weather is kind, its nice to be in the Garden. Easter moves each year and generally Easter falls on the first Sunday, following the first full moon after 21 March, but not always. The commonest time for Easter is 19th April and as the soil  is warming up its a good time to start planting vegetables depending on the weather. The only thing which varies more than the Easter dates, is the Easter weather, anything from a mini heat wave to hail and snow.

This Easter, if the going is good, it is an ideal time to plant potatoes although with an eye to any frost if the top growth comes through before frosts have passed. Ideal also for planting onions, and garlic. The soil should be warm enough to direct sow carrots, beetroot, lettuces, radish.  Both French beans and Runner beans are more tender and at this time of year need to be started either in the greenhouse or delay sowing until  the soil temperatures reach 12 degrees (54F).

Daffodils are going over and to ensure a good display for the following year, dead head and feed. Next year I am looking to growsome of the more of the unusual daffodills as in the image left, lovely and scented.

Around this time of year it is warm enough to sow annuals directly, such as sweet peas, which give such long lasted scented colour for the summer. You can directly sow marigolds, and I love the English pot marigold Calendula, image centre right, and much less attractive to the slugs. 

This year I am not going to plant much by way of bedding but instead fill in areas with wild flower seed. In recent years I have set aside an area to grow wildflowers which are suitable for seeding from now until late May, and I have really liked the results with the added benefit of being attractive to bees and butterflies. The image  far right  shows some of the wild flowers  from last year which this year I am going to extend to some of the borders which often have summer bedding in them. I guess I will still fall to the temptation of the garden centre and buy some but I have several packets of seeds and wildflower mats to lay and see how they look later in the season. Tips and advise on making a wild flower patch 

Butterfly Conservation is a UK charity dedicated to saving butterflies, moths and our environment. If you are interested in Butterfly Conservation here are details of a special offer to join the trust .

The trust are offer a new gardening booklet, available exclusively to  members in their welcome packs. Currently the trust is offering half price membership from the 1^st to the 30^th of April. The first 100 new members to sign up will receive a free pack of seeds. These seeds will be one of three beautiful annuals (Phlox, Cornflower or Pot Marigold) specifically chosen to attract butterflies and moths into your garden.

To use this offer please visit www.butterfly-conservation.org/join and enter the code GARDEN50. This offer is available to new members joining by direct debit.

For more information about wildlife friendly plants and growing Geraniums (image left) and growing Sedums (image right)

Having spent the afternoon on my hands and knees fighting the perennial weeds, its lovely to see the spring flowers starting to bloom as well as the weeds. The image left is a  Caltha palustris,  common name Marsh Marigold. As the name suggests, this plant likes boggy damp growing conditions and is suitable for growing alongside a stream where it looks very attractive. It will often self seed along banks creating a mass of yellow flowers. There is also a giant variety common name Kingcup which is taller with larger flowers.

Another lovely spring flower is Primula veris, common name Cowslip  which is an evergreen or semi evergreen perennial.  The flowers are often fragrant and always yellow on this variety. Primulas are a very large genus with about 400 species including Candelabra, Auricula and Polyanthus groups. This variety will grow in sun or partial shade, the one on the right is growing in the semi shade on a bank, again in moist conditions, just a stones throw from the Marsh Marigolds. 

Such bright cheerful plants are lovely to see when fighting the couch grass and creeping buttercup which I consider a weed, but it is a member of the same family as the Marsh Marigold, Ranunculaceae. I suspect there are a few plants in my garden some people would consider weeds, but after this afternoons efforts at least there are less of what I consider to be weeds.