Weatherwatch: when a warm March lulls us into a false sense of security

Daffodils covered in snow in the village of Catton, Northumberland, after temperatures dipped below freezing overnight on Wednesday. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PAAs gardeners know to their cost, early April frosts can wipe out delicate plants and blooms in a single cold night, even when – according to the Met Office at least – we are more than a month into spring.When March is noticeably colder than usual, as we experienced last year after the “beast from the east”, then