Sheena Patterson of Oxford Garden Design counsels caution before setting off with your shears

It’s the time of year when hospital casualty departments up and down the country fill up with hapless gardeners.

Gardening injuries often happen in spring, when the first sunny day of the year inspires us to rush out, full of enthusiasm, to dig up neglected borders, mow our soggy lawn or spend hours weeding, pruning and digging after a winter spent sitting on the sofa eating pies.

So, although I like to encourage people to get out and garden because it’s creative, rewarding, therapeutic and good for you in so many ways, I do need to add a few words of caution: it can be 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 tranquillity, to be pottered around in with a trowel in one hand and a glass of lemonade in the other.

Not so my other half, who likes nothing better than to rush about creating as much disruption as possible with every conceivable piece of noisy garden equipment that was ever invented. I fear we are likely to 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, who have the most injuries in the garden. Rushing back into the gardening 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 among 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 the culprits.

Many of the dangers to beware are obvious, such as the prickles, thorns and spikes, but some of the more unassuming and ordinary looking vegetation can lull you into a false sense of security.

For example, there is a very common, innocuously innocent looking plant called Euphorbia. Just one drop of sap on your skin can cause a severe rash, and if the white, milky latex touches a cut or sore or squirts into your eyes you are courting trouble of major proportions.

And I haven’t even started on the hazards of eating poisonous plants. The list is almost endless so common sense has to prevail.

Although some, like violas or nasturtiums, are delicious in a salad, a good rule of thumb is, unless you’ve seen it served as a food or a garnish, don’t eat it!