Is it still too early in the year to start digging over vegetable and flower beds and getting them ready for planting? I’d like to get a head start, but a gardening friend says I should hold off until spring. Cliodhna M, CorkI understand your appetite for getting going on prepping your garden for the beginning of another busy season. Unless you’re working undercover in a polytunnel or glasshouse, for example, I’d hold off from rotovating, heavy digging or forking over the soil until mid-March at the earliest. [ My garden has heavy clay soil that gets waterlogged in winter.

Source: The Irish Times January 25, 2026 13:35 UTC