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People are always banging on about summer salads, but it's the winter months when I crave fresh, green leaves. Even now in April, there's still not enough fresh greenery about, despite the fact that spring is well and truly here. Just the other

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

I really love Christmas - it's the only thing that cheers up winter for me (except snowdrops, which give me something to smile about in February). 'Bah humbug' is simply not in my vocabulary. And the kitschier and more traditional Christmas

're usually grown in the UK as annuals, chilli plants (native to South and Central America) are perennial, so overwintering them shouldn't be a problem, if you live somewhere nice and hot. The theory is that if they survive winter, the plants flower and fruit

I had hoped that the ultra-harsh winter weather would decimate overwintering populations of pests. This would go at least some way towards making up for all the bay trees and mimosas that gardeners lost during the cold spell.The outcome

- varying between warm and wet - conditions should now be perfect for blight infection to occur. It looks as if I won't be able to bank on a continuous crop of home-grown potatoes this winter.I'm watching the weather with a degree of grim resignation

was the natural place to be. Packed full of ideas for what to grow this year, and armed with packets of seed, I was determined to get some seed sowing done. But before the fun bit, I had to stop prevaricating and clear out the greenhouse.It's well worth cleaning

, but my thoughts are turning to the Mediterranean, and summer holidays. I like to imagine what I'll be growing and eating in the summer: masses of zingy tomatoes, sweet and crisp peppers, juicy cucumbers and buttery salad leaves. Oh, and warm ratatouille

done, I forked a barrow load into the now-empty greenhouse bed and began seed sowing. First, I direct-sowed lamb's lettuce, then sowed 'Arctic King', 'Winter Gem' and the greenhouse lettuce 'Rosetta', which I've not tried before, into modules.Next, I

at the weekend, it was plain to see that the local slugs were showing no signs of slowing down. I uncovered several large clumps of their eggs; clear or slightly off-white spheres, each about 1-2mm in diameter (pictured, above). I gathered the eggs up in a pot