With the astronomical season of spring beginning yesterday, casualty departments up and down the country will fill up with hapless gardeners.

Gardening injuries normally happen in the spring. The first sunny day of the year inspires hours of weeding, pruning and digging after a winter of sitting on the sofa eating pies. Long winter days are but a distant memory now that we’ve had the first sniff of spring and out we all rush, full of enthusiasm, to dig up the neglected borders or mow that soggy lawn.

Much as I like to encourage people to get out and garden because it’s therapeutic in so many ways, I would also add a caution; it can actually be quite hazardous.

Last weekend my garden was invaded by that most dangerous of species – a man with a mower.

Like most of the fairer sex, I view a garden as a peaceful haven of tranquility, to be pottered around in with a trowel in one hand and a glass of lemonade in the other.

Not so my husband, who, like most of the male species, likes nothing better than to rush about making as much disruption as possible with every conceivable noisy piece of garden equipment that was ever invented.

I fear we have become the classic ‘nuisance neighbour.’ According to figures published by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, roughly 87,000 of us each year will require hospital attention for accidents sustained through gardening or carrying out DIY jobs in the garden.

A staggering 6,500 people a year are injured by lawnmowers and many of these accidents happen when ‘people’ cut themselves cleaning the blades.

By ‘people’ we’re talking mostly men, not women, who have the most injuries in the garden.

Rushing back into the garden in spring is like a professional footballer rushing back on to the pitch after his summer holiday.

So to avoid injury, guys, please take it easy at first and take regular breaks from repetitive tasks which can cause muscle strain.

I would also advise those amongst us who have a less than full head of hair to put on a hat while gardening in the sun; I understand that a sunburnt scalp can be very, very painful.

while there are perils of injury from garden implements, plants themselves are often culprits.

Apart from the obvious thorns and spikes on many garden plants, there’s a very common, innocuously innocent looking plant called a ‘Euphorbia,’ which just one drop of its sap on your skin can cause a severe rash.

If the white, milky latex touches a cut or sore or squirts into your eyes, you are courting trouble of major proportions.

Another common cause of garden accident is from eating poisonous plants.

The list is almost endless so I guess that common sense has to prevail.

After all, you wouldn’t eat a strange mushroom or toadstool unless you knew for sure that they are edible.

If you’ve never seen it served as a food or a garnish, like violas or nasturtiums in a salad, don’t eat it.

Whether you’re an active gardener, or just like nosing over the fence at other people’s gardens, take some time to enjoy your outside room – safely.