by Emma Cooper

Created on: February 23, 2008

One of the main problems with gardening in a temperate climate is that the gardeners tends to be all warmed up long before the garden. Whilst the garden is still sleeping through the winter chill, the gardener is cozy inside - reading gardening books and thumbing through seed catalogs, hatching new plans for the garden this season.

So even before the first signs of spring arrive, the gardener is itching to do some gardening. The first pangs of withdrawal can be countered by tending to the house plants. They need watering and feeding, possibly even pruning and re-potting so that that they will be ready for a growth spurt in spring. And if you're really lucky then you can spend some time taking cuttings, collecting seeds and potting up offshoots - propagating new house plants to fill empty spaces in your house or those of friends and family.

Kitchen gardeners can spend the winter sprouting seeds on the kitchen counter - anything from mustard and cress right through to ultra-healthy broccoli sprouts and wheat grass. The only problem with that is that, beyond rinsing twice a day, sprouts don't need much attention.

The real gardening starts about a month before the last frost date. Now - whatever your passion, kitchen gardening or ornamental - is the time that the spring seed sowing starts. All of the windowsills in the house fill with seed trays and burgeoning life. Tomatoes? A nice sunny, south-facing spot will be good for them. They'll have to battle it out with the peppers for space. Early lettuce? They'll be better in a cooler spot. Hardy annuals? I'll put those out in the porch. And while I remember, it's time to set the cold frame up outside so that I have somewhere to harden off all these seedlings.

If you can get hold of a greenhouse (buy, beg, or fashion your own out of scrap materials) then now is the time to do so - you'll open up a new world of early sowing opportunities. And even if you don't heat it, there are hardy plants that will grow through the winter in a cold greenhouse and provide harvests for the kitchen and keep the gardener busy.

And if you're really sneaky, then you'll have done some of your sowing in the midst of winter. Winter sowing is great for seeds that need a cold period to encourage them to germinate, and seeds of hardy plants that will germinate as soon as spring is on the way. You see, the real secret of how to start gardening early in the year is never to stop for the winter.

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