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Spring has sprung! After a winter-like March when growers were struggling to get daffodils to bloom for Mother's Day, April has finally brought us the moment we have all been waiting for.

I was still very busy in March despite the cold weather. There was a lot of traditional pruning to do of Buddleja, Roses, Willows, Lavatera, Dogwoods etc. That is a lot of pruning for me when you consider I have my own garden plus another dozen others to manage professionally.

Fellow Gardener's often ask me about the timing for the pruning of Clematis. There seems to be a lot of confusion surrounding this subject.

I try and simplify things a bit:

Make the decision about when to prune your own Clematis by thinking about when it flowers. If it flowers early in the season, prune it when it has finished flowering. Think about it, if you prune an early flowering Clematis at the start of spring you will cut off the wood that is just about to flower!

Mid to late summer flowering Clematis can be pruned in early Spring, leaving them with enough time to produce the flowering wood.

In the vegetable garden I sowed tomato and broccoli seeds indoors and then moved them to a cooler room after germination to begin the hardening off process. On the vegetable plot itself, the garlic and broad beans that I planted in the Autumn are both doing well, I enriched the soil prior to planting with my own home-made garden compost.

Talking of compost, I had a furry visitor to my compost heap last month! My black plastic compost heap stood on bare soil, a rat decided to burrow under the outside edge of the bin and then up through the compost. The rat probably found it nice and warm in there or maybe it was feeding on the plentiful supply of compost worms?

I dealt with the problem by removing the whole heap and putting down a hard concrete base for the bin to stand on, making it impossible for the rat to gain entry, or at least I hope so! It seems to have worked so far.

So another busy gardening season is ahead.