March marks the real start of the allotment year for me. You can tell this because yesterday, 1000 litres of compost (Wickes peat free) got delivered to the flat yesterday and I’ve started to wheelbarrow it around to the plot 100 litres at a time! My plan to make my own compost is coming up against an animal that is kicking it out of the compost bays and onto the paths, I need to sort that out this month so it’s a job I’ll add to the list.

I also bought a small, cheap set of grow lights to see if that will help prevent my seedling from getting leggy this year. I really need to start sowing soonish. Peppers, chillis, aubergines, tomatoes, leeks, kale, brussels sprouts, celeriac and a first wave of cabbages and cauliflowers (so more than a little bit of sowing). I know it’s too much but I don’t want a repeat of last year, when everything was too late, so I’m just going to go with it. I also found a use for an old National Trust Handbook and have made loads of little paper pots to hold all these seedlings. I’m really trying to keep to my ‘no disposable plastic’ on the plot promise. I do have a lot of pots from plants I have bought and I will use those, this feels like a good way to start these seedlings.

I made a list (which I’m not going to enjoy doing but I’m going to feel great if I can get it all done in March)

• Paint shed
• Strim grass edges
• Weed, top up and cover the beds
• Sort out the weedy area by the boysenberry
• Weed and mulch the flower beds
• Weed and reup the cardboard and woodchip on the paths that haven’t been done already (the ones at the back of the plot)
• Sow radishes and salad in the polytunnel
• Sow peas, late March

There’s probably more that I’ve forgotten but I can always add to the list!