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In the news...

The weather is a serious business to us gardeners: and never more so when it's unpredictable. The coldest December on record morphed into the after another hottest-ever year. , but : with weather like this, it's no wonder they're confused.

The nation's first this week celebrated all the positive ways people are helping slow the inexorable upward progress of the temperature graphs. Hundreds of people joined in across the country, planting trees, holding pub quizzes and inventing compostable packaging: .

The Met Office : not only the rather unsettling graphs, but also films weighing up the science like this one:

Also in the news, tree thefts seem depressingly to be catching on. Last week it was western red cedar and Norway spruce saplings destined for Welsh woodlands (most, thankfully, found the next day). This week 12 juniper seedlings , sending juniper - these days - one step closer to extinction in the south of England.

On a more optimistic note, curry ingredient turmeric could be enlisted to clear landmines. It isn't difficult to though you'll need a greenhouse: quite handy to have around if war breaks out in your back garden, then. Or if you just want to cook a curry, of course.

Elsewhere on the web...

Chickens invaded the Gardeners' Question Time potting shed this week, snaffled by the team from chicken breeder Philip Lee Woolf to star in a grow-your-own extravaganza recorded at the in Warwickshire. The ensuing discussion covered talking to hens, Bob Flowerdew's catfood-stealing cockerel and Anne Swithinbank's rather fine chicken impression. And you thought they just talked about plants.

In case you had forgotten, there are only 58 panicking days to go till the opens. At the moment it's all about walls: a green one for , designing her first full show garden this year, and a dry-stone one for both and (there are sheep creeps involved in this one). I'd say that's the snifter of a Chelsea trend emerging already, wouldn't you?

Out and about...

I hope you've been saving your pennies. You're going to need them this week: the plant fairs are back.

Specialist plant fairs are perfect for picking up those covetable little treasures and are packed with knowledgeable growers to tell you just how to look after them. So: email your bank to apologise and go indulge yourself and your garden.

Daddy of them all is the in Westminster. It's a magnet for the UK's very best nurseries plus international growers, and the RHS advisory team is also on hand to answer questions. Garden writer is there too, exploding some .

Next weekend the lovely 70-acre grounds of in Staffordshire and the Gardeners' Plant Fair at in Yorkshire promises some of the North's most passionate nurseries and growers with unusual plants a go-go.

And herb queen is next weekend near Bristol. Choose from over 600 varieties and enjoy daily workshops run by Jekka herself.