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If you’re a parent you’ll know that along with the incredible joy children bring, there are always….costs. As a loving parent, you take this in your stride, but if you’re like me, you’d prefer to invest wisely when it comes to playing and leisure, so that your little darlings get the most value out of what you’re spending that hard earned money on. The throwaway culture of recent times has led to so much waste, and toys have to be one of the biggest culprits. We have some lovely wooden toys that provided hours of amusement and are still in my office today, coming down from the shelf occasionally when a client has to bring a little one along to a meeting. But the number of plastic things that broke after a few outings – and therefore couldn’t be passed on to the thrift shop, for instance – still bothers me.

When I sit down with clients to discuss their garden design, I always ask them if they would like a wildlife friendly garden, as there are so many ways to encourage beneficial wildlife into a garden, using both design features and choice of plants. Almost everyone is keen to encourage bees and butterflies, with a growing awareness of the decline in bee numbers and the need to provide vital sources of nectar and pollen for them.

The gentlemen with whom I share my home (one husband and one child) are disinclined, at the best of times, to partake of vegetables of any description, and though they might be tolerated as a necessary evil occasionally – on top of a pizza, for instance – salad leaves of any kind seem to give rise to a red line. They are, after all, food for rabbits – and I suppose I must have been a rabbit in a former life because they are one of my absolute favourite things. It winds me up though, that the only way to buy them is usually as a whole head of one kind of lettuce – boring! – or as a mixture in a bag – much more interesting and delicious, but it’s hard to get through a whole bag by yourself before they get limp and lifeless, and I hate waste. So this week I’ve been planting my own ‘cut and come again’ lettuce.

If you’re thinking of growing sweet peas this year, this weekend is a great time to plant them in the garden - and I can’t think of a better way to spend the bank holiday than prepping the garden for the summer season ahead. You can grow them from seed, in which case you would need to have sown them indoors or under glass in January or early February, but most garden centres are stocking young plants about now. Either way, make sure they are hardened off before you plant them outside, to lessen the shock they’ll get from moving outside into a colder environment.

Do you pack your garden seats away every winter? I don’t. The thing is, winter’s not that clear cut in these parts - it doesn’t have a fixed beginning and end, tending to show up, uninvited, at intervals throughout the other three seasons. The upside of this is that summer gets a crack at it too, with still, balmy days possible any time from February to November, and it’s a real shame not to take advantage of these to snatch a few welcome minutes in the garden, so I like to make sure there’s always somewhere to sit. By the time you’ve hauled your furniture out of storage and brushed the cobwebs off, the window of opportunity might have closed.

We have a complicated relationship with water in these parts – as I write, sudden showers are lashing ferociously, whipped by early spring gales, and completely destroying the white flowers on my beloved star magnolia tree. By the time you read this, on the other hand, we could be in the grip of the next heatwave or under several inches of snow – we live not just in interesting times, but in an interesting place to be sure!

When designing planted areas for my clients I’m always thinking ahead and planning for colour in the garden for as many months of the year as possible. Colour in summer is easy, but I firmly believe that a garden is for life, not just for summer, and it should look (and be) interesting in Spring, Autumn and Winter too. In fact these are the times when a garden should work its hardest, as you’re less likely to be spending time in it and more likely to be looking out at it from indoors.

For the horsey types and punters travelling to this week’s Cheltenham Festival, the state of the turf is sure to come up in conversation – is it wet or dry, hard or soft, and how’s it going to suit the glossy supermodel you’ve put your money on for the next race? If, instead, you’re planning to spend this long weekend on your own turf, you’ve picked the perfect time, because weather permitting, March is ideal for laying a new lawn.

Plants that thrive in the shade are often overlooked by gardeners as it’s easy to be distracted by showier individuals who need sun to do well. Most gardens have shade in some form or another though, depending on the time of day or time of year, or the particular aspect of the plot. It’s always handy to have a few shade lovers up your sleeve for these spots, so that you’re getting the most out of every inch of space. Many shade lovers tend to flower earlier in the year, as they would in their natural woodland habitat, before the leaves of the trees overhead block out whatever sunlight there is. Here are some shady customers that are looking well right about now.

As winter continues to drag its heels, it can feel at this time of year that spring and summer will never come. Although there are green shoots and colour from early bulbs, we’re still a long way away from the glorious colours and abundance of summer – which is why a little planning for the season to come can do a lot to lift the spirits. Choosing new roses is a great form of retail therapy that will make the garden sing this summer without breaking the bank.