You can’t deny spotting the first snowdrop on a chilly February day lifts your spirits and tells you it’s not long till spring it also makes me think I must get a few more of those in my garden next year.

Well now’s the time to action that point as unlike other spring bulbs that are bought dormant and are planted in the autumn, snowdrops need to be bought ‘in the green’ when they have finished flowering and the leaves have not yet died back.

You can buy them in bundles from nurseries or mail order and before you plant them enrich the soil by adding lots of lovely humus, plant 6” deep and firm in well.

They may not look much this year but will repay you kindly with beautiful white carpets next year.

If you already have snowdrops but would like more, dividing is the easiest way to increase your stock and help avoid congestion and disease build up.

To do this use a fork to lift the clump, carefully pull the soil away and separate them into individual bulbs, pop them back in the ground at the same depth, with some compost added to the hole and bear in mind they are woodland plants so between a few shrubs would be ideal about 6” apart, unless you have little woody area, mine are under my nut tree and seem pretty happy there.

A couple of other jobs to be getting on with this week:

Plant out your onion sets: make sure the ground it well worked and soft enought for you to be able to gently push the sets into the ground, 4” apart in rows 12” apart with the tip just showing, firm the soil around them.

Start off your cannas by planting up the rhizomes (underground stems that look a bit like garlic!) in 8” pots of compost, only just covering them and leaving any young shoots exposed. Water lightly and keep in a warm greenhouse or conservatory, moving to a cool greenhouse in mid-April, hardening off and planting out at the end of May (after frosts).

To prevent peach leaf curl spray new leaves of peaches and nectarines with copper fungicide.

I was lucky enough to spend a couple of hours with the head gardener at The Secret Gardens of Sandwich yesterday he gave me an insiders view to these beautiful gardens… I’ll let you know how I got on next week.