With all the rain and cold days we have been having it is best to wait at least another week before all the bedding and tender plants can go out, although it is still safest to wait until the end of May in more rural areas.

• There are still a few spring clean-up jobs to be done. Forsythias will have finished flowering by now and if you have not already done it they need to be pruned down. Forsythia is very tough and you will not kill them with a good hard prune.

• Evergreen hedges should be now coming back into growth, conifers and laurels etc. it is worth giving them a spring trim. After a rough winter they can look a little unkempt. Spraying the hedge with water will help keep the cuts moist and help trigger the dormant buds into fresh new growth.

• This is the time to plant out dahlia tubers into the garden. Although these are tender they will cope with any light frost. Plant them into well-prepared soil – dahlias are greedy feeders, they will use up all the nutrients you can give them so try and incorporate plenty of organic matter before planting. Insert a stake to support the plant as it grows before planting.

• Pelargonium and fuchsia cuttings taken a few weeks ago should have rooted now and will be growing away strongly. They may well be ready to pot on so carefully lift one or two and have a look at the roots. If they have a good root system then pot them up individually in 9cm pots. Pinch out the shoot tips to encourage bushy growth, this should be done when the plants are 10-13cm tall, unless you fancy trying to grow a standard fuchsia.

• Now is the time to plant up hanging baskets with half-hardy summer bedding plants like Pelargoniums, lobelia and petunias. Try to select plants that will complement each other in the basket all with similar colours. Keep them in a cool greenhouse or porch to establish before putting out later this month.

• Keep a look out for aphids settling in for the summer on your fruit trees. It's a good idea to get them under control early in the year. I don't like using chemicals on food crops so I go for the organic option of soft soap applied eight days after petal fall. Avoid spraying fruit bushes and canes when in flower as this may harm the pollinating insects.

• Plants in pots and containers need regular watering at this time of year even if we get some rain as they will dry out quickly; this problem is especially bad when it is sunny and windy. Water the pots well twice a week rather than a little every day, this will encourage the roots to go down looking for the water rather than surface rooting.

• This is the season for slugs and snails and they love all those young seedlings you have worked so hard to grow. Control them with slug pellets or beer traps to ensure they die happy. Keeping the grass cut short around the garden gives them less places to hide and plastic cloches will help to protect young plants in the ground. Gravel can be used as a barrier to stop them but I have not had much success with this method. When using slug pellets put them under old plates to prevent the birds eating them – and this is also the sort of place slugs like to go to during the day.