Country & Garden: Weekend Work

THIS IS a good time for sowing unusual salad vegetables, such as winter purslane, salad rocket and lamb's lettuce. If the soil is dry, take out the drill with an onion hoe or the back of a rake and water thoroughly before sowing the seed. Hardy spinach varieties such as Sigmaleaf can be sown now, although they will need a cloche over them.

The time is also right for buying "forced" hyacinth bulbs and planting them in bulb fibre, watering them and putting them into a dark place for eight weeks to allow healthy root growth.

If you like to keep your pelargoniums from year to year take cuttings now. Also take cuttings of half-hardy perennials such as marguerites, salvias and Convolvulus maritanicus.