Weekend Work: Time to sow basil and tomatoes

What to do

The kitchen windowsill is satisfyingly full of pots of germinated seeds. Cobaea, statice, rudbeckia, verbena, stocks are all through. Next to be sown will be basil and tomatoes, 'Sunset' an orange cherry tomato (Mr Fothergill £2.35) and 'Alicante' (Mr Fothergill £1.55), both OK for growing outdoors.

Perfectionists might like to spray apple and pear trees against scab, if there are no more pressing tasks to hand. Scab is a blemish rather than a threat. Trees will not die because of it.

Moss has had a field day on lawns after this wet winter. If you cannot learn to love it, hire a scarifier and sweat the weekend away tearing the stuff out. The lazier option is to use a chemical moss killer.

Indoor plants may need potting on. Find out by knocking them gently out of their pots and examining their rootballs. If there is a solid mass of root showing round the outside of the compost, the plant needs a larger pot.

Do not suppose that, by giving a plant a pot twice as big you will make it twice as happy. One size larger will be plenty.

What to see

The first of this season's Rare Plant Fairs takes place tomorrow (11am-4pm) at the Bishop's Palace, Wells, Somerset. The building is medieval, surrounded by a garden of 14 acres in which rise the springs that first gave the city its name. For those who depend on their SatNavs to get anywhere, the reference is BA5 PD. Admission to the fair is £4.