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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

I'm forever sowing vegetable seeds at the moment, and when I'm not sowing vegetable seeds I'm pricking out seedlings, both on my allotment and on the vegetable patch at work.I always seem to be behind, however, and last year I completely forgot

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

What an odd summer we're having. I'm behind after not daring to sow a thing in April as I knew I wouldn't be able to keep them watered enough in those scorching temperatures. Then May hit us with lots of rain and wind so all the slugs and weeds I

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

by the hedge to harden them off before planting them out.We've had mixed results with broad beans. I usually sow them in autumn - trouble is that they need to get established as soon as they're planted otherwise the mice can dig them up and eat them. As well

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

. (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

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

, that carrots are Paul's favourite vegetable and he's not the greatest veg eater so I really want to encourage him on the carrot front. I guess I'm going to have to re-sow yet again and hope for warmer temperatures and dryer weather. What I really want