Down at the allotment, things are stirring, and I don’t just mean the weeds. The lengthening hours of daylight and a spell of dry weather have conspired to encourage allotment holders, like small furry animals fresh from hibernation, outside again. I myself have done a couple of days of digging and tidying on my own plot and I was pleased to see a slow-worm warming itself on the top of the compost heap when I added the old trimmed autumn raspberry canes on Saturday.

There may not be much on my plot to harvest, just a few leeks, but it’s time to start sowing the seeds for this year’s veggie (and flower) harvest. Although I should probably add that if frost or heavy wet weather are forecast you might be better to wait a couple of weeks before you begin, your location in the UK determines when you should begin as the further north you live, the more likely it is you need to wait a bit.

This weekend I’ll have a long list of jobs to do including: a few bits of tidying, a last pathway to cover in cardboard, plastic and wood-chippings and some seed sowing to complete. Hardy broad bean seeds can be sown outdoors, as can calabrese, spinach, spring onions and carrots. I’ll sow leek seeds outdoors but in a seed tray so I can pot them on without using valuable bed space. My seed potatoes are chitting nicely and all have strong shoots growing but I won’t be planting them just yet as they are sensitive to frost. Having had my first (rather optimistic) planting of potatoes set firmly back by a frost the year I started the allotment, I have learned my lesson!