Undaunted by the impending break in the weather I planted out the first lettuces and rocket into the raised beds in the garden - about forty plants in all. The rocket 'Apollo' and lettuce 'Barba dei Frati' seemed to be the best of the bunch, vigour-wise. I also potted on a dozen Tomato plants and the Artichokes. I finally got around to sowing more flower seeds: mainly Nicotianas.

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Harvest-wise we had the first of the chard and the first of the rhubarb. Both very welcome. And the purple-sprouting broccoli I'd been waiting for turns out to be white sprouting. Not sure how big the florets should be before I cut them, but I'm looking forward to trying it.

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Whilst pottering about I've noticed quite a few ladybirds already and three butterflies: two Peacocks and, I think, a Fritillary.

Another sunny morning to be grateful for not having a proper job.

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I rehabilitated a bed which will house a neighbour's onions (long story) and hopefully my turnips subsequently. I should be thinking more about what's following what I'm planting now, but there's enough to consider.

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Back in the greenhouse I sowed 3 types of lettuce: Sucrine, Chartwell and Salad Bowl; plus a couple of Endive: Ascalano and Grobo. I also sowed a new carrot (to me): Sytan - on the packet it claims to be everything you could ever want from a carrot. All I want from a carrot seed is, well - a carrot. I potted on a chervil plant and will now go and soak some parsley seeds before I forget...

A beautiful early-spring day. I planted 18 Arran Pilot seed potatoes into trenches filled with composted grass cuttings. I finished preparing the rest of the First Early bed: the annual weeds aren't making an appearance yet, but the perennial ones are flourishing in the warm weather.

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The potatoes in the greenhouse have nearly reached the top of their sacks and the first-sown tomatoes need potting on into 5" pots.

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With April just around the corner it feels like now or never when it comes to preparing the soil.

For the first time this year the 5 day weather forecast has no shades of blue. Even though the wind is cold, there's real heat in the sun and the sense that the worst is behind us. The hour change tonight may be man-made but is also a watershed in real gardening terms: instead of watching TV there's almost a duty to get out in the evenings and to do futile battle with the burgeoning weeds.

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In anticipation of this extra working hour or two, I moved anything higher than a slug's elbow out of the greenhouse - ostensibly to harden off - but in reality just to make room for some new things to sow. Not boring brassicas or more tomatoes, but nice big seeds like courgettes and melons. And interesting things like couve tronchuda and red spring onions.

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Harvest-wise things are looking grim. What's left of the kale is flowering away and the overwintered bunching onions are starting to form seed heads. Fortunately, the salad crops are going well and the baby salad leaf mix provided a first crop, albeit tiny, from a 2007 sowing.

Well it was lovely weather last week, for March. Definitely warm in the sun if you could escape the wind. Beyond the plot there was change all around. The grass in the meadows thickening up with celandine and other weeds. Curlews and pheasants breaking the late winter silence.

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This week: the check. Seedlings standing around looking bored. With the greenhouse full to the gunnels - especially at night when it's full of plants sheltering from the frost - and the soil cold as a grave, there's nothing for it but to sit back and wait. Tomorrow I'll mend my strimmer, maybe. And water some ungrateful looking sowings. I could prune the soft fruit too... But all I really want to do is smell the spring air, plant potatoes and sow things.

At last - the first tentative outdoor sowings of the year. (Well seed sowings, the shallots went in last month). Having knocked the appointed bed into shape, I sowed about 100 broad beans: Purple Seeded, Express and Hangdown Green. All new varieties for me so it's a bit of a gamble with my favourite crop of all. Just to hedge my bets I'll sow some Windsor types next month and some Suttons in late July. Who knows? I may even achieve that elusive succession...

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Encouraged/ fooled by the recent mild weather I put some First Earlies in too. Ulster Chieftan to be precise. If you could judge the quality of the potato crop from the size of its seed then this should be a huge crop. Unfortunately, you can't. Just to defend myself from the inevitable, pessimistic comments of my beloved allotment neighbours, I hid this rash potato sowing under a layer of leaves and covered the lot in black polythene.

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Yesterday the cloche came out and covered the kohl rabi and radish transplants. It seemed like a lot of faff for the sake of kohl rabi and radish. But with most of the kale gone to seed and the sprouts just a memory, any old brassica will do. I got my kiwi and fig plants in their places and thus finally completed the fruit planting for this year. No, hang on, I ordered some rhubarb crowns too...

Late as usual: March's list of sundry sowings. Just a few this month:

FLOWERS
Achillea Ptarmica
Black Eyed Susan Beauty Spots
Cynoglossum Amabile Mystery Rose
Elecampane
Larkspur Giant Imperial
Linum Grandiflorum Rubrum
Morning Glory Split Personality
Morning Glory Star of Yalta
Nasturtium Milkmaid
Nemophila Maculata Five Spot
Nierenbergia Mont Blanc
Phlox Peppermint Candy
Poached Egg plant Meringue
Poached Egg plant Sunny Side Up
Poppy Californian Single Mix
Stock Night Scented
Sunflower Russian Mammoth
Virginian Stock Mix

HERBS
Basil Basket of
Basil Fine Nano Compatto a Palla
Basil Lemon
Basil Lettuce Leaved
Basil Lime
Basil Siam Queen
Basil Violetto Aromatico
Burnet
Salad Chamomile
Evening Primrose
Heartsease
Joe Pye Weed
Lady's Mantle
Lemon Balm
Marjoram Sweet
Motherwort
Mugwort
Oregano Greek
Peppermint
Pyrethrum
Sage English
Skullcap
Sweet Cicely
Tansy
Wormwood

SALAD LEAVES
Asparagus Lettuce Cracoviensis
Celtuce
Purslane Golden
Purslane Green
Rocket Turkish
Rocket Wild

ASTERACEAE
Artichoke Green Provence
Burdock
Cardoon Bianco Avorio
Cardoon Gobbo di Nizzi
Chicory Barba di Cappucino
Chicory Catalogna Puntarelle Brindisina
Chicory Catalogna Puntarelle di Galatina
Chicory Grumolo Nero
Chicory Grumolo Rossa
Chicory Intybus
Chicory Selvatica da Campo
Chicory Spadona
Chicory Taglio Bionda a Fofglie Larghe
Chicory Zuccherina di Trieste
Dandelion Dente di Leone
Endive Ascolana
Endive Bionda a Foglia di Lattuga
Endive Grobo
Endive Jeti
Lettuce Amorina
Lettuce Chartwell
Lettuce Corsair
Lettuce Red Wave
Lettuce Tonale Ice Queen
Lettuce Salad Bowl
Lettuce Sucrine
Rampion

POLYGONACEAE
Bistort
Patience Dock
Rhubarb Glaskins Perpetual
Sorrel Blood Veined
Sorrel Buckler Leaved

LEGUMES
Asparagus Pea
Broad Bean Hangdown Green
Broad Bean Medes
Climbing Bean Dolichos Lab Lab
Dwarf French Bean Aiguillon
Dwarf French Bean Canadian Wonder
Dwarf French Bean Cannelino
Dwarf French Bean Hildora
Dwarf French Bean Tendergreen
Dwarf French Bean Triomphe de Farcy
Pea Avola
Pea Balmoral
Pea Cavalier
Pea Early Onward
Pea Endeavour
Pea Ezethas Krombek Blau
Pea Hurst Greenshaft
Pea Jaguar
Pea Onward

SOLANUM
Aubergine Prosperosa
Chilli Pepper Caribbean Blend
Chilli Pepper Pinochio's Nose
Chilli Pepper Prairie Fire
Chilli Pepper Red Cherry
Pepper Antohi Romanian
Pepper Choco F1
Pepper Eves Apple
Pepper Gourmet
Pepper Sweet Banana
Pepper Sweet Orange Baby
Pepper Unicorn F1
Tomato Black Krim
Tomato Buissonante
Tomato Costoluto Fiorentino
Tomato Maskotka
Tomato Rose de Berne
Tomato San Marzano Nano
Tomato Sweet Olive F1
Tomato Tondino Maremmano
Tomato Yellow Pygmy

AMARANTHACEAE
Beetroot Forono
Chard Lucullus
Chard Verde da Taglio
Good King Henry
Orache Red
Spinach Matador
Spinach Scenic
Wormseed

VALERIANACEAE
Lambs Lettuce d'Olando Seme Grosso 'Ortolani'
Lambs Lettuce Louviers

BRASSICAS
Brocolli di Albenga Precoce
Brocolli Early Purple Sprouting
Brocolli Sprouting Early Purple Red Arrow
Brocolli Summer Purple Sprouting (Wok Brok)
Brocolli Tenderstem Green Inspiration F1
Cabbage Bacalan de Rennes
Cabbage Caramba F1
Cabbage Frostie F1
Cabbage Hispi
Cabbage Primero F1
Cabbage Tundra F1
Calabrese Decathlon F1
Calabrese Veronica F1
Chinese Cabbage Wong Bok
Chinese Cabbage (small) Fong San Improved
Chinese Cabbage (small) Green Seoul
Choy Sum Hon Tsai Tai
Cima di Rapa Greleiro Temporao
Cima di Rapa Namenia
Cima di Rapa Sessantina
Kale Flanders Purple
Kale Ripbor
Kohl Rabi Purple Danube F1
Komatsuna
Mispoona
Mizuna
Mustard Bau-Sin
Mustard Big Stem
Mustard Golden Streaks
Mustard Peacock Tail
Mustard San-Ho Giant
Mustard Tai Ping Po
Mustard Zlata
Pak Choi Canton White
Radish Big Ben
Radish Scarlet Globe
Radish Zlata
Texel Greens
Turnip Market Express
Turnip Golden Ball
Turnip Ivory
Turnip Manchester Market
Turnip Purple Top Milan
Turnip Tops
Vitamin Green

ALLIUMS
Bunching Onion Feast F1
Bunching Onion Ishikura
Chinese Chives New belt
Chives Polycross
Leek Blauwgroene Herfst Ardea
Leek Blue Solaise
Leek Bluegreen Winter Solaise
Leek Natan
Leek Oarsman F1
Leek St Victor
Leek Startrack
Leek Autumn Giant
Onion Brunswick
Onion de Setubal
Onion Hystar F1
Onion Puplette
Salad Onion North Holland Blood Red Redmate
Salad Onion White Spear
Salad Onion Winter White Bunching
Shallot Ambition F1
Shallot Prisma F1
Welsh Onion Red
Welsh Onion

UMBELLIFERAE
Anise
Carrot Autumn King 2
Carrot Navarre F1
Carrot Sytan
Celeriac Alabaster
Chinese Celery White Stem
Coriander Cilantro
Coriander Confetti
Cumin
Edible Carrot Leaf
Florence Fennel Mantovano
Florence Fennel Zefa Tardo
Hamburg Parsley
Mitsuba
Parcel
Parsley Italian Giant
Parsley Plain Leaved 2
Parsley Titan
Parsnip Countess F1
Skirret

CUCURBITS
Gherkin Beth Alpha
Squash Rugosa Friulana
Courgette Bolognese
Courgette Cavili
Courgette Coucourzelle
Courgette Custard White
Courgette Striato di Napoli
Gherkin Diamant
Gourds Crown of Thorns
Melon Ananas
Melon Cantalupo di Charentais
Melon Charleston Gray
Melon Crimson Sweet
Melon Retato Degli Ortolani
Melon Tendral Valenciano
Pumpkin Fester F1
Pumpkin Lumpy F1
Squash Giraumon Galeuse d'Eysine
Squash Hubbard Blue Ballet
Squash Table Ace F1
Squash Table Gold

I planted the second Walnut ('Franquette') just before the heavens opened. They're still more than ajar some four hours late.

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I retreated to the greenhouse only to find that most horizontal surfaces are now covered in growing things... very nice, but not good for the schedule. This corner of North Yokshire is usually mild but usually soggy which means the soil takes ages to warm up properly. Hence the policy of filling at least half the plot with overwintering crops (onions, garlic, kales, chicories, broad beans) and fruit - both of which can thrive in the damp early months. Then, by late May, the stage is suddenly all set. From a long wait massed in the greenhouse, within four months most half hardy crops have to come to fruition.

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I guess the tailoring of cultivation to local conditions is a big part of the draw of this pastime.

A combination of warm sun and cold wind. There are a few lambs and birds are chattering in the hedgerows, but no first flush of weeds yet to signal the arrival of spring garden-wise.

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I'm finally getting to the end of the fruit tree planting: a plum, a gage and a damson went in yesterday. Hopefully the other walnut, a fig and two kiwis will all be planted in the next few days. A minaiture peach which I'd heeled into the greenhouse border is now happily flowering away so I guess that's staying put. Thompson and Morgan sent me some strawberries (Elsanta) I'm fairly certain I didn't order - so I did the right thing and planted them in one of the raised beds in the garden.

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Vegetable-wise it's full time sowing and coaxing of improbably small seedlings. I'm hardening off some lettuces, kohl rabi and radishes. One of my stratified Alexanders sowings has germinated. Which was a suprisingly joyful experience (for me, but maybe the plant too) tempered only by the stubborn no-show of the bulbous chervil. And one of the Yuccas I proudly germinated now closely resembles a tomato seedling...