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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

plums from Italy. The only British plums I've tasted this season are from my neighbour on the allotment.It's all rather depressing really. The majority of consumers are either too busy or too indifferent to write to supermarkets demanding that they stock

of veg seedlings set up on the window sill. The one in the living room was perfect – it's south-facing, so is bright and well lit. The trick with growing plants on a window sill is to turn them regularly so they don't grow towards the light in one

as their root systems aren't that big. The same applies to seedlings, but for lots of plants it's also essential to water them when they're in flower and early fruit set, as this helps to increase the size of your crop. Potatoes, beans and peas and most fruits

It's so hot I'm having to water my vegetable crops up to twice a day at the moment. Everyone on the allotment is desperately trying to keep the plants productive and, more to the point, alive.We're lucky to have taps dotted around the site, which

they put up a fight. That's why they're so successful.Bittercress continues to frustrate me, and I'm sure I'm not alone. Barely has a seedling had time to get established than it's flowering, then forming seed pods. And those pods have a trick up

in the pond where I work. There is no sign of birds nesting in the blackthorn at the plot, although it's hard to see through the swathes of blossom covering the tree.Activity at the allotments, however, has been regular and sustained. This week all my

it's good to be getting something back into the lovely, clean beds. Hopefully, with the belated April showers we've been having lately, the seedlings will be up and away at a rate of knots, and young plants will be covering the ground before the weeds

the greenhouse at home rather than on the allotment, because in the growing season you really have to be able to attend to seedlings and plants twice a day. For me, it was also important to mix edible with ornamental plants at home. I wanted to have things like