There's plenty to do under cover at this time of year, particularly cleaning out pots and pans and preparing compost for the greatest seedsowing season of the year. If you are lucky enough to have a greenhouse with some heat, then this kind of work is a pure pleasure. And if you also have heat under your sowing trays, then your seeds will pop with astonishing rapidity.

Outside, when the earth is neither sodden nor frozen, you should dig any vacant ground so that it will be ready to use when you need it. When you've broken up the top spit (equivalent to a long-spade's depth of 12 inches), you can proceed in either of two ways.

The first, ideal for people who badly need some physical exercise, is to work hard at breaking down the clods of earth into crumbs. You do this by bashing them with the back of a fork or rake which leaves the soil crumbly and ready for early sowing and planting.

If you're not used to digging then it's sensible to strike up an easy rhythm as you work, rather than going at it hell for leather and then finding yourself exhausted in no time. It's also really important to remember to bend your knees when you lift anything at all, to save hurting your back.

Alternatively, you can take the easy route after breaking up that first spit and simply leave the clay lying about in clods or lumps, to be broken down by any future frosts, with any luck.

Dry, frosty weather is healthy and clean, killing off bugs in humans as well as harmful fungi that attack vegetables and roses. It also helps decimate aphid populations (green, black and white fly) and the egg caches of slugs and snails, which often lie just below the surface of the soil and are exposed when you tickle the ground around emerging bulbs and other spring plants at this time of year.

Meanwhile, mid-March onwards sees the opening of the potato planting season and right now the shops are awash with a great variety of seed potatoes, including more organic varieties than ever. If you have some uncultivated ground to spare, perhaps you should consider turning it over to spuds for a season.

There's no more satisfying way to break up rough ground and get it into fine form for planting a mixed garden at a later date.

This applies particularly to people who've moved into a new house with a previously untilled garden, or those who've acquired an old, weedfilled plot that hasn't been cultivated for years.

The pleasure of turning up a forkful of new potatoes is about equal to finding a trove of buried treasure.

Green in the pink A DEBATE is currently raging about whether or not to 'chit' or sprout the eyes of your potatoes before planting, which you do by leaving them eyes up in boxes or trays, laid in a single layer in a light, airy, frost-free but cold place. This forces them to produce short, sturdy shoots which some say gives them a head start in life, while others . . . including many Irish and Scottish growers . . . say that the sprouts are too brittle and easily broken off, thereby weakening the potato and leaving it vulnerable to slugs and disease.

Before planting, get rid of any weeds and fork over the ground, as thoroughly as you can manage. Obviously, if you've grown potatoes before and your soil is in good condition, there are more sophisticated ways of ensuring a top yield. But for the purpose of refining rough ground, this method is adequate and rewarding enough for beginners. For early potatoes, plant the tubers about eight inches apart, in rows about 12 inches apart.

For later crops, leave 15 inches between each tuber and the same between rows.

Remember to draw the earth up around them as they grow, to stop them turning green . . .

and poisonous . . . in the light.

Instead of harvesting a crop of useless and ever-seeding weeds in early summer, you'll be digging lumps of gold.

Garden work IF YOU haven't got a big show of tulips lined up, then you could try to save the day by immediately planting dozens of the wrinkly little corms of Anemone coronaria, usually sold as De Caen hybrids, of which the double St Brigid is the best known here. Although they are already showing plenty of leaf in sheltered containers, if planted now these reliable little anemones should still flower in their rich jewel colours by late spring. As cut flowers, cut when not yet opened, they can be as frivolous as tulips, turning this way and that in the vase and lasting for a long time.

DIARY

>> Today, 3pm at Hosford's garden centre, Co Cork: 'Vegetable Talk' with Jean Perry of Glebe Gardens, Baltimore in west Cork. Adm free. Hosford's . . . now with a mouthwatering variety of certified seed potatoes in stock . . . is at Cappa, Enniskeane on the main road between Bandon and Clonakilty. Tel: 023-39159

>> 'Trees Are Our Lifeline' is the theme of this year's National Tree Week (5-11 March), when free, treerelated events will take place in almost every county in Ireland, sponsored by Coillte and the O 2phone people.

One event of note to reach my desk is a guided walk around the Millennium Arboretum in St Anne's Park, Raheny, Dublin (8 March, 2.30pm).

Organised by the Institute of Horticulture, 'Trees from Five Continents' will be guided by UCD's Mary Forrest. Meet at the car park near the tennis courts and entrance on All Saint's Road. www. treecouncil. ie

>> 'Irish Botany: An Introduction to the Irish Flora' at the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin 11, is the "rst ever series of evening classes on Irish botany. It will be held each Tuesday night (89.30pm) over a nine-week period, beginning on 4 April, with a one-week break for Easter. The classes, to be delivered by the staff at the Botanics, sound fascinating and range from the history of Irish "ora to simple plant anatomy, identi"cation techniques, habitats, ecology, collecting, preserving and, "nally, on becoming a botanist.

Places are limited so advance booking is essential. The course costs 120 with proceeds going to the Irish Museums Trust.

Tel: 01-857 0909.