There’s been a bit of a stampede of people with weed problems.

Celandine is the same yellow as a buttercup but the flowers are a star shape, it has heart-shaped glossy green leaves and is a ground hugger.

It has a few tricks up its sleeve, this one – you try to dig it out but lurking beneath the ground are tiny bulbils, some of which you will inevitably leave behind.

To be blunt, just ignore it. You will never get rid of it unless you take everything out, smother the area with old carpet or something for a couple of years and try again.

The problem will be the bulbils will be in among the roots of the plants you took out and planted elsewhere, so you have simply spread the blooming stuff around.

The one good thing about it is it doesn’t last for long and after flowering it will die and disappear for a year.

Oxalis is next – it looks a bit like a clover-shaped leaf but has small yellow flowers and does exactly the same as the Celandine. Again, ignore it. I must point out there are some Oxalis that do not behave like this and make perfectly good garden plants.

Then there is the nasty common Sedge, Carex pendula. What a pain! Its leaves have small barbs on them so run your hand the wrong up or down and you’ll know about it. It arches up to about a metre tall and clumps out at an alarming rate.

It has catkins and is wind-pollinated, making it a very successful colonizer. You’ll see it growing in damp areas by rivers and streams.

You don’t want it in your garden – it’s a thug and will get in between roots and paving given half a chance. While it’s young give it a good tug – it should come out cleanly. You’ll be wasting your time with weedkiller.

On to more pleasant things. If you have a Smokebush then you might want to give it a prune back so you get bigger leaves.

It does mean that you won’t get the masses of tiny flowers but these are generally grown for their foliage anyway. Do the same with cut-leaved Elder like Sambucus nigra ‘Black Lace’ but again, you will lose the flowers. If you want to have both then cut back every third stem rather than the whole lot.

You can start to sow some veggies outside now, with hardy stuff like carrots and beetroot. If you didn’t get round to planting your onion sets because the ground was too wet, you can do it now.

Plant them so the tips are just above the soil but watch out for hungry pigeons.

You might also be thinking about hanging baskets and when to start them off. If you have a greenhouse you can get them going now and they will establish and flower earlier for you. To make your own, stuff them with plants and use slow-release fertilizer and water-retaining gel mixed into the compost.

I would not be looking to put out baskets until towards the end of May.