What to plant in March

March is when the UK garden truly wakes up. Soil warms, bulbs flower, and a flood of seeds can go in — outdoors under cloches and indoors on every windowsill.

What to sow in March: Tomatoes, peppers, aubergines (indoors); Carrots, parsnips, beetroot (under fleece); Leeks, spring onions; Peas and broad beans; Lettuce, rocket, spinach, radish; Hardy annuals: calendula, cornflower, nigella.

What to plant in March: First early potatoes; Onion sets and shallots; Asparagus crowns; Strawberry plants; Summer-flowering bulbs (lilies, gladioli).

What to harvest in March: Purple sprouting broccoli; Leeks; Spring cabbage; Forced rhubarb.

Key jobs for March: Top-dress roses with mulch and feed; Cut back buddleia and hardy fuchsia hard; Divide congested perennials; Mow lawn on a high setting; Install slug defences.