Welcome at BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine March 2023 Issue

Around now, at the end of February, is the time when I begin to get a small feeling of panic about the gardening year ahead and begin writing lots of different lists – lists of projects I want to complete, lists of jobs that need to happen, lists of plants I want to grow. You get the idea. But the panic is real – after the quiet winter months and the feeling of ‘having plenty of time’, suddenly there’s a lot to do to get the garden on track for the season ahead. Of course, everything usually turns out okay and, despite triumphs and disasters (never the same two years in a row) I, and the garden, always get there in the end.
So, what does this year hold in store? To be honest, I’m a bit unsure. It feels like I’m starting from a different place this year – my lawn still hasn’t recovered from the scorching heat of last summer, and I hadconsidered doing away with it entirely. But that feels like a very big project. A lot of my tender plants have died from prolonged frosty snaps – my fault, because I chose not to heat my greenhouse this winter (but what do you do when there’s an electricity bill to think about?).
And one of the two large trees in my garden has fallen down and needs removing after non-stop autumn rain saturated the ground around it. Weather extremes have certainly changed things.
But I do have my to-do lists. I’ll be sowing plenty of annuals to fill gaps in my borders. I’ll grow tomatoes and chillies, full of optimism that they will be my best ever. I’ll probably repair the lawn and give it another chance, and I might just lay that bit of paving at the end of the garden (though that has been on the list for the past two years).
Whatever happens to be on your list, here’s to the excitement of cracking through it and ticking things off. We’re going to be busy, but I’m sure we’d have it no other way…

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