All over Ireland, millions of snowdrops, daffodils and aconites are sitting up already, if not yet open. Soon we'll all be back on the gardening merry-go-round, chasing nature but never quite catching up.

'Be prepared' should be our motto, along with the scouts, and right now, with the arrival of the new seed catalogues, our thoughts should be turning to seedsowing and the enjoyable process of selection.

But first there is hygiene to be considered. You do not want to carry plant diseases over from one year to another so first, gather up all your trays, pots, boxes and whatever else you have handy for sowing into.

Normally I would advise that you give them a good scrubbing inside and out with a bristle brush and warm soapy water, to which you may add a dash of disinfectant of your choice. A laborious, time-consuming if ultimately rewarding job.

However, we have recently acquired a dishwater in this house and it is now our new best friend.

Almost everything . . . bar bone, ivory or pearl-handled cutlery, best glass and painted china . . . now goes into the maw of this wonderful machine to be cleansed and this, happily, includes all the terracotta and plastic trays, pots and saucers that will be needed for the imminent seedsowing season.

I have no idea if it's bad for the machine or not but it's wonderfully effective and time-saving.

So far I've received two new 2006 seed catalogues.

One is the world famous Thompson & Morgan'swhich, incidentally, now offers a selection of young plants by post, most useful for people with no space, time or inclination to start things from seed. (T&M is distributed in Ireland by Mr Middleton: 01 8731118; mrmiddletongardenshop@eircom. net. ) The second catalogue is the attractive and intriguing first edition of Lissadell's new Heritage Seed List, offering over 80 varieties of alpines, 110 varieties of herbaceous plants and an exciting range of more than 300 old-fashioned, sometimes regional, vegetables and herbs.

Compiled by Lissadell's head gardener, Klaus Laitenberger, formerly of the Organic Centre in Leitrim and designed and edited by Grainne O'Connor, it has lots of line-drawings and looks like fascinating reading, though I've not had time to study it yet. (071-916 3150;

info@lissadellhouse. com or view the illustrations online at www. lissadellhouse. com. ) The T&M back catalogue is packed with good things as usual and of course there are new introductions that reflect the current fashions and the way we live now, such as our consumption of convenient ready bagged and washed selections of salad leaves.

Unfortunately, whether organically grown or not, these handy bags are packed using gases that are harmful to health.

So unless you have access to fresh organic leaves at a local market, it makes good sense to grow your own mix.

Really, nothing could be simpler and by sowing little and at frequent intervals one packet should give you months of cropping.

Last year I grew a salad mix away from slugs in old plastic windowboxes in a sheltered but sunny place and was eating them up to just before Christmas.

T&M's new salad additions include the promising 'Niche Oriental Mixed', which is ready to pick after only 25 days if sown in summer; a faster-growing and largerleaved 'Rocket Apollo'; a zesty 'Sorrel Blood Veined';

and the exclusive 'Spinach Bordeaux', an F1 hybrid (that means it will not come true from saved seed) with red stems and veins, said to be sweet-tasting and bolt-resistant.

Hailed as a world exclusive is T&M's seed of 'Poppy Fruit Punch' (the perennial Papaver orientale), a mixture containing a range of vibrant colours that includes, for the first time, the elusive plum shades hitherto only available to the masses as plants such as 'Patty's Plum'.

The same company is also offering a very rare and, to judge by its picture, sensational looking columbine, Aquilegia viridiflora 'Chocolate Soldier' (35cm). Described as a collector's item and "sweetly-scented, with chocolate coloured, tubular blooms that contrast beautifully with its intriguing green to beige spurs" it will no doubt sell out fast, so get in there with your order.

I will deal in more depth with the Lissadell catalogue as soon as I've had a chance to study it properly, and indeed any other catalogues that arrive on my desk in the meantime.