Gosh have we been going five years already? Where has the time gone? I thought I would look at 2009 quickly and see what was hot in the world of plants and gardens then. Well, hot plants were the black varieties which featured very strongly at the Chelsea flower show of that year – things like Black Bamboo, and the Iris ‘Black Knight’. Talk was of global warming and the lack of rainfall of the future (that’s a laugh for a start) and how the Mediterranean plants are the way forward (I still think the people of the Somerset levels would be better off with rice growing!)

Well let’s get back to the present ... even if you have never tried before, do grow at least one thing for eating this year. Things for beginners to grow would be runner beans, courgettes, cherry tomatoes, and ‘cut and come again’ lettuces. Don’t plant a whole packet of seed (you can share a packet amongst a couple of interested friends). The cherry tomatoes need starting off inside in a warm place towards the end of the month. Varieties like Tumbler can be grown in baskets and pots and need no special training so are pretty fool proof.

The lettuce can be sown in small short rows every couple of weeks so you get a succession of plants to pick over. No one needs 10 courgette plants unless they are running a restaurant – two or three are ample and really one is just fine if space is limited. The runner beans can be made into a wigwam of canes and five or six plants are enough for this – sow two beans per pot and nip off the weaker one to ensure good germination.

I know that I nag but do keep on top of the weeding – they will start to shoot up now and it will make it so much easier later on if you get on top of it. Things like dandelions need to have the whole root removed or they will regrow, so if they are in awkward places they are best squirted with a systemic weedkiller such as ‘Resolva’ or ‘Roundup’.