Hyacinths If you only have a couple of pots for spring colour, choose hyacinths for wonderful colour and fragrance and place them near your patio door or on a wall at nose level so that you can take in their wonderful scent each time you pass.

The leafless flower stalks which bear oblong masses of star-faced bells come in a range of colours, from white to orange, to pink, deep purple and everything in-between. The most popular is the Dutch hyacinth, H. orientalis, and good varieties include the deep blue Ostara and Jan Bos, which is red.

You may have enjoyed forced hyacinths indoors over the winter, but they do just as well outside as compact bedding or container plants and enjoy a long flowering period. Bulbs should be planted in September and October, adding well-rotted compost to the soil before planting. They thrive in sun or light shade and you can leave the bulbs in the ground over winter, although they probably won't flower as well the second year.

It's often better to leave them after flowering and let the foliage die down, before storing them in peat until planting time comes along again.

WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK

Sow and plant out vegetables including beetroot, broad beans, carrots, celeriac, kohlrabi, onions, peas, spinach, swedes and turnips.

Sow seeds of tomatoes in a heated propagator or on a warm windowsill to grow on outdoors when all danger of frost is over.

Deadhead daffodils as they fade.

Apply a spring fertiliser to established lawns once they are actively growing and cut grass when it is about 8cm (3in) high.

Don't let pots and seed trays in the greenhouse dry out.

Prune young tree heathers.

Clip ivy growing on walls to tidy it up.

Clear crops of leeks and celery which are still remaining, so that the ground can be prepared for new crops.

Sow a few sunflower seeds under glass to encourage the children to become interested in gardening.

Get rid of seedheads and stems to make way for new growth, and dress the soil with a fertiliser so it is ready for a layer of mulch.