As a child I have fond memories of a tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima) that grew on the edge of my parents herbaceous border.  I loved its fury stems and its fiery orange leaves in the autumn.  So I was pleased to find one in our garden when we moved in 12 years ago.

But it has invaded the lawn somewhat, so this week I grabbed my saw and cut it down.  And on the same day I read that it is becoming a pest too in the countryside as it can out-compete the native plant species around it.  Sightings of this and other alien species should be reported to the non-native species secretariat (and no, this isn’t an early April fool!)

I'm not sure what variety our rhubarb is as it was a root taken from my parents garden 10 years ago, which was no doubt taken from someone elses.  There are earlier varieties available and forced rhubarb is already on sale in the shops, but I don't mind waiting.  Its on its way, with the first bright pink spear already straining for sunlight.

Which has made me start thinking about rhubarb recipes and the appropriately entitled rhubarbrecipes.com.  It has some nice recipes, but what about rhubarb and elderflower?  For me forced rhubard roasted with elderflower cordial is unbeatable.

School gardening clubs have been springing up everywhere, giving thousands of children the opportunity to experience the pleasure of growing vegetables.  But as we know, no vegetable garden is complete without a scarecrow.

So we have decided to give away 100 of our screcrow kits to primary schools in Oxfordshire and we are giving £250 of wildlife products to the best scarecrow.  Schools from other counties are welcome to enter, of course, but we only have free scarecrow kits for schools in Oxfordshire.  See our scarecrow gallery for details.  Next year we hope to give away more kits to schools in more counties. 

It seems early in the year to be thinking about hammocks.  The catkins are still very much in evidence and there is little warmth in the air.

But March is not too early to think about planting trees.  It is the end of the time to plant deciduous trees (Oct-Mar) but the start of the planting season for evergreen trees (Mar-May).  So if you fancy a bit of mixed woodland, now is a good time.  For hammocks, 3.5m spacing, aligned east west is ideal.