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Easter weekend in Bath was beset by bad weather. We had some dull, dreary and drizzly days to contend with, which certainly slowed momentum on the plot. The wet weekend was far more suited to sowing seeds indoors than pluckily plodding on outside

view to nesting sometime soon. It would be great to have a little family to keep an eye on while I'm weeding.Although the soil is warming up nicely I'm determined not to sow seeds too early. It's easy to get lulled into a false sense of security

More seed sowing this week. The parsnips should have been in weeks ago I know, along with the beetroot, turnips, swedes and so forth. But it's not the end of the world — my first crops will either be a bit later than everybody else’s or I'll harvest

. Next week I'll cut the heads off and hang them upside down in a paper bag to collect all the seeds. Then, in 2010 I'll be sowing my own leeks and parsnips on my plot. I can't wait to see how they grow.

The long chilly winter evenings are ideal for looking back on the year and reflecting on its triumphs and disasters. Some triumphs are of my own making - my carrots were fantastic thanks to my sowing the seeds at the right time, unlike last year

physically eat and deciding whether to give sweet potatoes another go. This is the time I order shallots and potatoes, bare-root fruit bushes and all my seeds for spring and summer sowing. It just gets it all out of the way and then I can relax and wait

. (However, I did lose every single calabrese plant to the voracious little blighters, so I haven’t had it all my way.)Parsnips were a bit thin on the ground, due to a couple of disastrous sowings. It was breezy the first time I tried to sow the papery seeds

of the weekend did give me the perfect opportunity to settle down with a few seed catalogues and start my list for this year.I need to get on with it really, as the purists will say I should be sowing tomatoes by now. But it won't take me long to sort out what I

August can often feel like a tricky time on the allotment. Lots of things like salad potatoes and beetroot have been harvested, leaving large gaps or whole beds free. Then there's the interruption of a summer holiday - should you sow anything new

, and analyse what went wrong.Top failure prize this year has to go to parsnips - I only have about half a dozen. I know what went wrong, though: I sowed old seed that was past its sell-by-date. I've learnt my lesson, and it won't happen again.Second prize goes