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Happy new year – may 2013 be better for veg growers than its predecessor. I can’t say 2012 was my favourite year, and it was undoubtedly the worst I’ve known on my veg plot.I’m starting January with my customary clear out. I always clean

I reckon that spring is in the air, albeit intermittently. The daffodils have been stirring (in tandem with the snowdrops!) and I have the urge to spring clean the greenhouse.A good clear out makes a lot of sense - it's good to make space for all

I've been spring cleaning. The greenhouse, of course, not the house. Somehow the lure of the compost and seed trays was much greater than that of the vacuum cleaner and duster.Our heavy clay soil has been sodden and unworkable, so the greenhouse

that fun but very wet (and potentially cold) task of cleaning the glazing. (Someone did remind me the other day that in only a few weeks the days will start to get longer, but right now it just seems to be getting gloomier).I have some wonderful window

Once again it poured with rain at the weekend, so my heavy clay soil was too wet to be worked. Instead, I made for the greenhouse, to do a spot of cleaning.I spent a thoroughly productive couple of hours, jet washing the glass inside and out

whiplash. Meanwhile, provided I wear my walking books I can just about stay upright, but with little, if any chance of actually doing anything useful. I even cleaned the inside of the greenhouse the other day (which, for me is rather like ironing

to the ground and some were even snapped off completely. The only good thing to come from this was that my son collected a large bunch of (somewhat muddy) daffodils for me. They now grace the dining room, having been given a bit of a clean up in the sink

, as they enable the birds to clean their feathers, insulating them from the cold and helping them to fly.The great thing is that from my kitchen I can see the birds are really appreciating my efforts, and at the same time they're providing my family with far more

.I must confess that I don’t refresh the soil in my greenhouse as often as I should (or as often as I might be heard to advise if, say, I was asked the question on Gardeners’ Question Time…). It’s such a tedious job – almost as tedious as cleaning behind

and rooted out of the trays, yesterday I was cleaning some rubbish and grabbed the closest pair of gardening gloves I could find, only to find that the fingers were stuffed full of seeds (yes, my seeds!) A mouse larder, it seems!They must be acrobats