Last week it felt that spring was about to knock on the door; this week it has pushed the door open and invited itself in. Once again, the days are lengthening and temperatures rising. The clocks go forward tonight and after the long winter it at last feels the right time to be outdoors putting out the spring bedding and getting sorted for the months ahead.

The open gardens season starts this week too and we have the annual competition to win tickets to the Harrogate Spring Flower Show next month. Details about these events are below.

I took my first trip this year to the nursery last weekend and came home laden with primroses and violas.

It is disturbing to realise that three months of the year have already passed by but at last I have that indescribable feeling that I must be outside planting and sowing, digging and sweeping, returning indoors a little stiff and with hands that will remain slightly grubby for the rest of the year. A favourite spring job of mine is to clear out the window boxes and replant them with early flowers. They usually have something of interest planted year round but the cyclamen put in after Christmas did very poorly this winter and have been removed save for two that have started to produce a new crop of blooms.

The spaces are filled with yellow and white primulas and purple and yellow violas, a cheerful sight to see from the kitchen window. Another container is brimful of pale yellow primroses, nestling in a sunny corner of the house. It is surprising how much of an impact such a simple use of a plant can have.

Danesgate Skills Centre

Danesgate Skills Centre at Fulford Cross in York has restored a walled garden that is now used by pupils at the centre as part of their educational courses.

While the pupils propagate and grow many of the plants there is always room for more and they would like to offer a good home for any surplus specimens gardeners may have. Plants can be dropped off at reception at the centre from 9am-4.30pm Monday to Friday.

Harrogate Spring Flower Show

The 2010 Harrogate Spring Flower Show will take place towards the end of next month and, as usual, will have plenty of things for enthusiastic gardeners to see and to buy.

This year, the themes for the show are growing your own and local produce and there will be displays, demonstrations and advice to help with making the most of the garden.

Information and ideas on growing fruit and vegetables will be found at the new Grow It demonstration area, while the Fodder Cookery Theatre will have chefs from around the region cooking with local produce.

More than 100 nurseries will be displaying their best blooms in the flower halls as they compete for medals with their inspirational stands.

And, of course, there will be lots of tempting plants on sale too, along with all sorts of garden-related goods from greenhouses to hosepipes, watering cans to wellies.

The 2010 Harrogate Spring Flower Show runs from Thursday, April 22, to Sunday, April 25, 9.30am-5.30pm (4.30pm on Sunday). Tickets at the gate are £14 Thursday-Saturday, £12 Sunday. Advance tickets each have a £2 reduction and can be booked by ringing 0844 8733033 Monday-Friday 8.30am-4.30pm before noon on Tuesday, April 13.

Open Gardens

Tomorrow.

In aid of the National Gardens Scheme Goldsborough Hall, Church Street, Goldsborough, two miles south east of Knaresborough. Eleven-acre garden and formal landscaped grounds last opened for the NGS in 1930. Now restored by the owners, visitors can explore the Gertrude Jekyll-inspired replanted 120ft double borders and rose garden, a lime tree walk planted in the 1920s underplanted with naturalised daffodils, a woodland walk and specimen trees. Open 12pm-4pm. Admission £3.50 adult.

Gardening TV and radio

Tomorrow.

8am, BBC Radio Humberside, The Great Outdoors. Presented by Blair Jacobs and Doug Stewart.

9am, BBC Radio Leeds, Tim Crowther and Joe Maiden.

2pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. A postbag edition with Matthew Biggs, Bob Flowerdew, Pippa Greenwood and chairman Peter Biggs. There is also an update on the slug trials and the gardening weather forecast at 2.40pm. (Repeated from Friday).

Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.

1pm, BBC2, Open Gardens. Gardens around the country are spruced up in the hope they can be included in the National Gardens Scheme Yellow Book.

Friday.

8.30pm, BBC2, Gardeners’ World. In a one-hour special for the start of Easter weekend, Toby looks at solutions for a sloping site and Carol visits the exotic gardens at Tresco Abbey on the Isles of Scilly.

Competition Win tickets to Harrogate Spring Flower Show

In The Garden has six pairs of tickets to the 2010 Harrogate Spring Flower Show to give as competition prizes.

To enter, simply answer the following three questions:

*In which theatre will chefs be cooking with local produce?

*In which new demonstration area can ideas on growing fruit and vegetables be found?

*How many nurseries will be displaying in the flower halls?

Send your answers together with your name and address to Garden Show Competition, In the Garden, Features Desk, The Press, 76-86 Walmgate, York, YO1 9YN. Closing date: Thursday, April 1, 2010 with winners announced on this page on Saturday, April 3.