So what else can you be doing if you can’t really get on the soil yet?

Fruit trees will be looking for a first feed – use sulphate of potash and sprinkle the recommended amount around the roots, mix in as best you can, then mulch but don’t let it actually touch the trunk of the tree. Check that all stakes and ties are firm.

Watch out for weeds coming up. The little beggars do not seem to have been put off by the rain and it hasn’t been cold enough to delay their progress. Hairy bittercress, Rosebay Willowherb and Herb Robert are all on the go, so get them out before they really get going.

If you took out and stored Dahlia tubers then now is the time to get them going into growth. Check them over and cut off cleanly any that look suspect or feel a bit squishy. Pot them up, label them and put into the greenhouse. They might need some protection from fleece if we have cold nights.

Deciduous hedges can be cut back now. You can probably get away with cutting down by half if you have to, but if you want to go down any more than that you will need to spread the work over a couple of years, so down to half now and then half again next spring.

Something strange is appearing in my garden! All the water has obviously boosted ‘it’ into monumental growth and I am having trouble recognising it!

A few years ago, Crocuses suddenly appeared where I had not planted any but this is not crocus.

I have dug some of it out – white long roots which alarmed me and, looking at how it is arranged, the only thing I can come up with is that the Physostegia that I planted two years ago is taking off like a rocket.

It sat demurely, growing very little but flowering, but not now! The leaves look similar and looking at a piece that was in the RHS Garden magazine about how plants spread, along with a useful diagram, I thought ‘Bingo!’ But I shall have to keep an eye on it as it has already made its way towards my dainty Aquilegia ‘Chocolate Soldier’ that I painstakingly grew from seed. If it interferes then it’ll be for the chop!

The autumn-sown sweet peas are doing fine out at the front. I’ll need to pinch them out to make bushier plants soon but it is too early to plant them out.

The Trachelium caeruleum that I grew from seed last year, and have in a pot under some cover, has also survived. It took eons for the seeds to germinate and I have bought some more – this time very dark purple – to have a go at.

If you have ordered any seedlings or mini-plug plants, they will come through the post at an inconvenient time – they always do – but you must get them potted up as soon as possible. Put them somewhere warm but not hot and in good light.