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prolific weeds in my beds. It's actually quite a charming plant, with little blue flowers and a creeping habit. But it gets everywhere. It has a nasty habit of hiding under plants, where it sets its roots down close to the stem. This makes it difficult

have been a bit chilly, but you won't find me complaining — or my lovely little seedlings that are starting to grow.Everything on the plot is pretty rosy I must say. All the onions and shallots I planted are sprouting away happily. And only a few

sized bed of 'Charlotte', my favourite second early, which is a fabulous new potato that's perfect for summer barbecues and salad suppers. I'm also planting two main crop varieties, 'Cara' and 'Picasso', which should both store well.All the seed spuds

or garden weeds for good measure, just in case you thought it was all a bit too idyllic.It's been a week or so since I last popped up to the plot and things have grown hugely in that time. Some plants have gone over already - the last couple of leeks have

. But I can still take all the lovely garden rubbish up to the allotment. All the blackened dahlia stems, fallen leaves, old bedding plants and herbaceous stems will rot down beautifully over the winter.

it looks like. (We've had it where I work - very nasty - have to avoid growing onions and all alliums for years!I know that onion beds need to be kept weeded in summer or the onions become stressed and bolt, producing a flower spike that saps all

reason than they looked nice and I hadn't grown any before. I planted the cabbages in the brassica bed along with a few pak choi, some summer cabbages and the purple sprouting broccoli and covered the lot with netting to protect them from the hungry

from slugs and snails) and planted them out when they had a good clump of leaves. I always grow lettuces in a well-drained (and less slug-prone) bed close to my shed, so I can keep an eye on them.I tend to try a few new lettuce varieties each year

and parsnips shot into glorious growth, triumphant at having survived the frosts and the cold. I left them to it, I was busy sowing seeds, getting the potatoes chitted and planted, and preparing the beds. Before I knew it, the leeks and a solitary parsnip were

This week it's looking like summer at last! I think we're all getting some sun and, boy, is it a welcome sight. I can almost see the plants shaking themselves off like damp dogs and settling down for a good sunbathe.Well it's certainly good to know