It may still feel cold and damp outside but sap is rising, buds are breaking, and the unstoppable rush of growth isn’t far away. Take a look around the garden and spot the changes. They may be very small at this stage, but it’s wonderful to watch as the early performers start to wake.

Rhubarb shoots

These are pushing their way out of the ground, starting with small leaves and stems that thicken as growth progresses. Rhubarb crowns benefit from some feed early in the year. If you haven’t done this already, then put a layer of manure over the bed. You can buy a bag from your nearest garden supplier and it can work miracles. Scatter some wood ash on the bed too and you will give plants a potash boost. If rhubarb crowns are very old, they may need replacing. Now is as good a time as any to either buy new crowns or to dig and split older ones into sections with a healthy bud or two on each one.

Sow tomatoes

I like to sow tomato seed at this point of the year. If you have some way of keeping pots warm, you will have lovely plants all ready to plant out at the end of April. A small propagator is fine at this stage, either a heated one, or an unheated one that you keep in a warm place. Choose varieties with care. Sakura is my favourite cherry variety (available from Quickcrop.ie) although there are many other good ones available. Shirley and Crystal are reliable performers for a medium sized tomato and Country Taste or Marmande make excellent beefsteak tomatoes. Other gardening friends may have other recommendations or read packets and choose your own.

• I sow up to ten seeds per 8cm pot of compost. Do as many as you want to grow plus a couple extra to allow for losses. Label each pot: one pot per variety.

• Water to dampen compost, then put in the propagator with a layer of polythene over the top of the pots until seedlings emerge. You can also put pots in a plastic bag if you don’t have a propagator.

• Don’t let the pots chill or overheat. Aim for 15C to 20C. You will need to open the propagator if they are in a bright sunny spot.

• Seedlings start to appear in a week or so. Old seeds can take longer to germinate. Keep compost damp, not wet.

• Prick seedlings out into individual pots when they are big enough to handle. Keep temperatures as steady as you can.

You can, of course, wait until plants appear in shops and save yourself the trouble of sowing and raising small plants. But then you do miss out on the wide range of varieties that are offered as seed; commercial growers of young plants will provide less choice. You also miss out on the joy of seeing growth progress through all the stages from a tiny seed to a plant laden with delicious fruits, an extraordinary process.

Sow tomato seeds now for growing on in a protected environment

Prepping garden beds

It’s too early to dig if the ground is still wet, but there are some situations where beds can be prepped. If you are effectively working with a broad ridge or raised bed, with paths either side and no walking on the soil involved, then you can get going whenever conditions allow. I like to get my onion bed ready, even though the sets won’t go in for another few weeks. I do this by building layers on ground that was cleared in the autumn and spent the winter covered with a grass clipping and leaf mulch. I put a layer of compost, or well-rotted manure, over this and, if possible, add more soil on top by digging out to make a trench on each side of the ridge. Add a scatter of wood ash and some seaweed meal if you have it, then cover everything with black polythene sheet, preferably recycled and reused. Weight the polythene down well along all edges. This will keep moisture in the bed underneath and reduce the need for watering if we get a dry summer. All you need to do is plant sets through holes cut in the polythene in three or four weeks’ time. Push them through the layer of compost until they settle on firm soil.

Some early sowings

You can still sow aubergine seeds and peppers do well if sown now. Both need heat and to be kept at a steady temperature of 18-20C while they are emerging. Sow summer lettuce varieties in pots in a greenhouse or polytunnel. Keep them protected against weather extremes and you will have strong young seedlings in a few weeks. Sow perpetual spinach in pots to plant out. These plants can keep cropping all summer long.

Summer lettuce varieties do well from a late February sowing