March into the Alloment.

I am lucky enough to have an allotment at the end of my garden, which backs on to a field of horses. My mum comes around every Tuesday and we work on our plots in between cups of tea, chat and stroking our equine friends. This year it feels like we are ahead of the game, as we managed to pull up the weeds and old produce from last year over the past few weeks and rake it all over before all the rain came down. We even had the help of my 8 hens, who foraged through and tucked into some juicy looking worms.

My mum dug out our first plan of the area and it was hilarious. We were so optomistic back then, drawing up a circular flower design of onions, garlic, runner beans, courgettes, tomatoes, marigolds, etc. It was like the Moulon Rouge of vegetables. The carrots were practically wearing the cabbages as can-can skirts. We did end up with a blanket of nasturtions, though, which looked very pretty, especially on a salad. This year, we are being much more sensible and having just a few rows with plenty of space either side, so room to grow.

We've sowed our seeds now for courgettes, leeks, beetroot, parsely and Brussel srpouts, which look very uniform and boring but at least they will be able to breathe and we will be able to see at a glance what they all are. Now it's time to settle down in our deckchairs with a nice cup of tea, close our eyes and soak up the sun, before we tackle the crossword together.