As we ease into March it’s a good time to get some jobs done in the garden that you may have been putting off for the winter and help your garden wildlife to boot. Flowers may already by in bloom, a pond might contain frogspawn and bird song has begun again in earnest.

It’s the last window to trim back hedges before birds start building their nests – but do check even now as some early starters may have already begun to build and even lay.

If this is the year you’ve decided to let your lawn go wild then give it a mow now on a high setting and then leave it alone until late summer. You’ll be rewarded with all sorts of flowers, many of them ‘weeds’, not all providing excellent food for pollinators. Daisies, dandelions, self-heal, clover and buttercups might be some of the wild flowers you see in your first year of letting your lawn fend for itself and while they might not be as showy as wildflower mixes from a packet they’re all native species and will be a source of nectar for bees, butterflies, hoverflies and more.

If you’re planting then be absolutely sure to buy peat-free compost. Compost containing peat does nothing for your plants but contributes to climate change and the destruction of precious upland habitats.

Make sure you also leave yourself some time to enjoy the garden! Watching the wildlife you have provided a home thrive is the best reward for all the hard work.