Days are getting longer, light is getting brighter and my green fingers are twitching.

I have many signs that the sap is rising and spring is arriving in the near future. This is just a few of those signs that may or may not be familiar to you.

• My allocation of free seeds from the Royal Horticultural Society and AGS arrived this week with a germination guide. This is always a Spring treat for me as it is very tactile opening an envelope of 20 packets of unusual seeds.
• Seed potatoes are on sale loose in the garden centres at least in the ones near me.
• Longer days are a sure sign of better things to come even though one of those things may be more snow.
• Specialist catalogues arrive almost daily from Woolmans for Chrysanthemums, Dibleys for Streptocarpus and Parkers for a mix of wholesale bulbs and plants.
• I nearly  forgot to mention Aconites, Snowdrops and Hellebores now in flower.
• My Christmas garden tokens are all spent up