Yesterday morning my sister-in-law, who lives in a part of the country 3 full climate zones warmer than here, sent me this photo – I suspect it was one of those email jokes making the rounds.

I chuckled, and got a little excited myself. I bet you did too. Then I looked out the window. Tiny snowflakes were falling from dreary grey skies. If like me, you garden under the Chinook arch…………..well, keep your pants on fellow gardeners; it’s too early to get excited or start panting, I mean planting.

I know the ground feels soft and spongy, but it’s only surface thaw; a foot or so down it’s likely still frozen – and even when the ground is completely defrosted, it won’t be ready yet. Working the ground when it’s soggy will only result in damaged soil structure.

I know we’ve had our hearts warmed by robin song and our skin warmed by double-digit daytime temperatures. Indeed local garden centres are beginning to stock plant material. So go. Go do some plant shopping if you must, but don’t plant anything yet; you don’t want to get caught with your plants down when temperatures plummet again (and they will, at least once more). Of course there are some smarty-plants that would manage just fine under these circumstances, but the blast of cold just when a plant is trying to establish itself will temporarily arrest the process – you might as well just wait until the soil has warmed up a bit and there’s less likelihood of further frosty weather.

I know you are looking expectantly around your gardens, giddy at the thought of green sprouts poking through, but you must resist the urge to tromp around on thawing soil – it will cause more compaction of our already heavy clay soil. Try to do only what’s necessary; cut down the grasses you’ve left up for winter appeal as soon as you see new growth, remove any rotting rhizomes in your iris clumps and remove dead foliage that you weren’t able to get to before the snow came. The rest can wait – for just a bit longer.

So keep your rakes, shovels, trowels and other planty-removers in the garden shed for now – gardening season is almost here.

But not quite yet.