WITH all the rough weather we have been suffering recently snow, heavy rain and high winds it's hard to believe that spring is just around the corner.

But it is, and a quiet potter around the garden on a relatively fine day will reveal that all sorts of plants are beginning to stir Snowdrops are at their best just now, and I'm pleased to see that the clumps I transplanted last year, from the front garden to the base of our wildlife' hedge, are flowering well. They look so much more at home in the hedge bottom than they did among the more formal plantings, I may well be tempted to add to them again this year.

Daffodils are coming up all over the place and I want to move some of these too. They are planted in a wide stripe along one of the borders but I think they would look better in smaller groups. I am going to try lifting and transplanting some now, before they come into flower. I'm not sure if it will be successful but there are so many, and they are so congested, that if I lose some of them it will not be the end of the world.

Elsewhere in the garden the flowers of Lenten lilies are raising their heads above the old foliage. I should get out and cut this old foliage off so that we can see the flowers properly and so that the new leaves will have room to expand when they start to appear later in the month. The buds of early flowering clematis are showing green now, and bronze leaved seedlings of Ranunculus ficaria Brazen Hussey' are popping up all around last year's parent plants.

A few tentative catkins are appearing on the willow and there are several flowers already open on the Japanese quince.

I'm pleased to note that the mixed verbascums I grew from seed last spring have bulked up nicely - their new leaves are soft and furry, a curious colour mix of grey and yellowy green It's not just plants that are coming to life with the changing seasons - slugs and snails are stirring too! On warm nights they have begun nibbling the freshly emerging foliage of my autumn-flowering colchicums. Watch out for these little beasts in your own garden and do away with them as soon as possible, before they have the chance to start reproducing.

Jobs for the gardener this week.

Start begonia tubers into growth by putting them in trays of moist compost and watering sparingly until they begin to sprout.

Prune back plants of late-flowering clematis such as Clematis orientalis and C. tangutica. You can cut them back as hard as you like, they will quickly re-sprout.

Cut down canes of autumn fruiting raspberries to within six inches of the ground.