March in Gloucestershire is always exciting with the racing buzz in the air! The daffodils are at their best on the roundabouts and verges to welcome the punters, and the weather can be beautiful – we have sat outside a pub in the town at 10 o’clock at night after the races in our shirt-sleeves! On the other hand there has also been snow at race week, so fingers crossed!

Try growing some vegetables, even if you have never grown anything before. Make sure you have some decent soil to plant in, and dig in some compost or other organic matter. Old bags of half used compost can all be used to supplement the soil. Rake it over and cover with black plastic to warm up and keep weed-free until you are ready to sow.

Fool proof varieties for beginners
Things for beginners to grow would be runner beans, courgettes, cherry tomatoes, and cut and come again lettuces. Don’t plant a whole packet of seed (you can share a packet amongst a couple of interested friends). The cherry tomatoes need starting off inside in a warm place towards the end of the month. Varieties like Tumbler can be grown in baskets and pots, and need no special training so are pretty fool proof.

No one needs 10 courgette plants unless they’re running a restaurant
The lettuce can be sown in small short rows every couple of weeks so you get a succession of plants to pick over. No one needs 10 courgette plants unless they are running a restaurant – two or three are ample, and really one is just fine if space is limited. The runner beans can be made into a wigwam of canes and five or six plants are enough for this. Sow two beans per pot and nip off the weaker one to ensure good germination.

Providing lots of fresh new shoots and colour for next winter
Now is also the time to hard prune the stems of willows and dogwoods that have been wonderful and bright during the winter with their fiery reds and yellows. Species grown for their colourful stems include Cornus alba, C. sanguinea and C. sericea (all dogwoods). The willows (salix) include Salix alba and S. irrorata. Cut back to two or three buds from the base of the shrub. This very old technique is called ‘coppicing’ or ‘stooling’ and will provide lots of fresh new shoots and colour for the next winter. This can be done every year, or every two years depending on how you want the shrub to grow.