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produced flower buds and the purple-sprouting broccoli which was cropping fabulously only a couple of weeks ago has gone to flower.It seems only a couple of weeks ago that I was harvesting tight clusters of purple-sprouting for the steamer but almost

I've been madly planting brassicas as if they're going out of fashion. Perhaps Brussels sprouts have never actually been in fashion - but they are with me. I greatly missed harvesting my own sprouts for Christmas lunch.This year, to make sure I don

, brought into the warm and protected environment of my greenhouse to ripen in time for Wimbledon. When I came to harvest them, bowl in hand, the fruits were gone.Now it's the blackberries, which are just starting to ripen and will hopefully provide rich

I admit that we don't get up to the allotment as often as we should, but does that mean someone else can harvest the strawberries in our absence? I think not. Apart from the rhubarb, and the perennial potatoes that keep appearing, the strawberries

I can't say it's a surprise - I've been expecting the annual appearance of a whopping great marrow on one of my courgette plants. It happens every year, without fail. I try to be so thorough when I'm picking, delving under the leaves, harvesting

of leaves, only to emerge during the harvest of crops such as winter kale or purple-sprouting broccoli.Hopefully vine weevil larvae and chafer grubs will also be seriously diminished by the cold snap. I'm also crossing my fingers that hungry birds

next year. So here are my allotment New Year resolutions for 2009:I must grow crops that don't require regular picking as I don't live close enough to the plot to get there more than a couple of times a week. That's just not enough to harvest runner

. But it's uncommonly cold at the moment and everything is suffering. The leeks and parsnips are frozen into the ground and are impossible to harvest, but a good frost is thought to sweeten the flavour of parsnips so the wait should be worth it.My Brussels

better to grow your own. I've grown my own cut flowers for a few years and, although I may not get harvestable blooms as early as they are available in the shops, I can still get them for weeks on end. One of my favourite daffodil cultivars is 'February

the previous year - it's perfect for growing baby salad leaves as they don't need a lot of nutrients. Kept adequately watered and stood in a well-lit spot, the seeds soon germinate. Then, within a few weeks, a harvestable crop of salad leaves is ready. And