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It feels like spring is on its way down here in the balmy southern slopes of Bath. The daffodils are in full bud, the birds are twittering away and there are more than a few dozy bumble bees blundering about. It's bound to go horribly wrong

With all the other work to get on with on the plot, the cold frame has been somewhat neglected over the past month or so. It's served its purpose brilliantly this spring, though its contents are now bursting out of the sides with quite a terrifying

At last, the plot is free of snow. It's time to get down to some serious preparations for spring. The plot looked beautifully tidy and well kept while it was covered in snow, but after the thaw I'm fully aware of how much work there is to do

Spring is in the air, and plants are beginning to shake off their winter dormancy. The birds and bees are making a cautious appearance, along with my fellow allotmenteers.My neighbours Ron and Mrs Ron were hard at it last weekend - they've got three

!Now I'm busily into planting up all the winter and spring crops - all my brassicas including kale, cabbages and purple-sprouting broccoli. My young purple-sprouting looks glorious - really well grown and leafy, though I do say so myself. But I always

The weeds are growing like mad this year. They seem to love the combination of spring showers and sunshine we've been having lately. Sadly, the fine weather is having as positive effect on the weeds as it is on me.Speedwell is one of the moist

. This was looking fab — big, bushy and full of promise for early spring harvests. That was until last week's winds which blew the netting off, exposing my lovely plants to the ravenous attentions of the local flock of peckish pigeons.Of course, my tardiness

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

- never-ending you could say - period of rain, cold and cheerless, sunless days. My fervent enthusiasm after the excesses of Christmas usually fades as quickly as any glimpse of sunshine; the allotment lies abandoned until the first glimmers of spring

moving so they can incorporate the compost for me. It should be lovely by the spring.