WITH the gardening season in full swing, the green-fingered among us will be clearing, digging, pruning, planting, watering and tending fledgling plants daily for the next few months. For extra help in redesigning your garden or simply maintaining it if you haven’t the time, or for specialist equipment, there are two very helpful contacts on this page.

Meanwhile…Dorchester’s elegant borough gardens will be officially re-opened on Thursday, May 7 after a £1.6million restoration.

Some £950,000 came from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Actor, director and writer Julian Fellowes will do the honours, with the ceremony starting at 2.30 pm followed by music in the bandstand from Jiggery Pipery and the Durnovaria Silver Band.

The popular summer music programme in the borough gardens has been restored by Dorchester Town Council along with Teddy Bears Picnic on Sunday, June 24 and Sam Fowler’s Swingtime on Sunday, July 8.

Most gardeners by now will be heads down in their flower and vegetable beds. Whether you are a beginner or a long-time gardener who says ‘you never ever stop learning’, one of the best ways to discover more is to visit Dorset’s open gardens when owners open them for National Garden Scheme charities. Look out for the Yellow Book in shops all over the area. It lists more than 80 gardens in town and villages, from clifftop eyries to old mills and rectory gardens, abundant cottage gardens clinging to hillsides, parkland acres, wildlife and water gardens and some containing national collections.