I couldn’t be happier. The sun is shining and it almost feels as if spring is here. Just last week there was standing water in the bottom few feet of one of my plots; the soil was completely submerged and saturated. Conditions were so wet and slippery that it wasn’t possible to push a barrow along the slope. But after just a few days dry weather it is now possible to incorporate some manure into the soil.

With the soil drier, I have finally managed to plant the last of my garlic and onion sets. The tasty golden bulbs of ’Setton’ onions are perfect companions to the ’Red Baron’ I planted in the autumn.

I’ll also be planting more ’Solent Wight’ garlic, adding to earlier plantings. This is a relief, as I had been worried that I would end up planting individual bulbs of garlic into pots, then transplanting them later on.

Everything else is starting to move too, the tomato, pepper and aubergine seedlings are responding well to the increased light levels. I planted a few potatoes earlier but had to protect them with mini pull-out tunnels to keep off the worst of the weather. But I’m hoping to plant more shortly.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the weather remains drier, and that we won’t have too many hard frosts. Hopefully all of the crops will catch up after their late start.