I visited my allotment on Monday 16th and the ground was covered in a deep frost and rock hard which meant that my plans to dig in the stubble from my green manure (mustard, phacellia and rye grass) sown in August last year, were shelved. I settled instead for tidying my greenhouse and shed.

The good weather in November has allowed steady progress on winter tasks. As crops have been harvested the cleared ground has been dug over. This means less to do in the spring.

The winter months are now upon us. The hour has changed and October is over. Winter crops are now to the fore. On the plot these are all flourishing. Many will last for several months and some will be fully harvested only when the ground is needed for next year's planting.

Summer is now over and the plot is becoming bare of produce. The winter crops are starting to provide us with most of our fresh vegetables. The courgettes (Defender), calabrese (Chevalier) and summer cabbage (Minicole) will very soon be finished.

At last all the sowing and planting out of vegetables is complete; the leeks (Musselburgh) are now in their final growing place. But I fill up space that becomes empty, such as when the potatoes are lifted, with the green manure "Crimson Clover". So section A. is now filled with clover sown in rows one foot apart.

It's now high summer; the plot is in full production and providing lots of fresh vegetables for the kitchen. It's easy to meet the recommended five portions a day. The choice is from sweet corn (Early Extra Sweet ), potatoes (Winston & Pentland Javelin), carrots (Chantennay), peas (Hurst Green Shaft & Onward), shallots (Red Sun), onions (Red Baron & Setton), courgettes (Defender), cabbage (Minicole) cauliflower (Candid Charm) and calabrese (Chevalier).

By the end of May seed time was over. In a few weeks harvest will start either with courgettes or peas. Not all plants have been set out. Some of the successional sowings of brassicas are still in their Rootrainers. The leeks, growing steadily in their seedbed, will wait until the catch crop of first early potatoes has been lifted. Then the plot will be fully planted out.

At the end of March the plot was bare. Now there is fresh green growth sprouting in every section. Most obvious are the peas (Hurst Greenshaft). They were brought on in the greenhouse and, after tying-up, had reached the tops of their 2 foot canes.

By the end of March the plot was empty. There are a few leeks temporarily heeled-in out of the way. But that doesn't mean that nothing has been happening. All four sections have been prepared for the new season. The two strips for the triple rows of carrots, in addition to earlier winter digging, have been turned over as has the strip for the parsnips. These two crops, along with the leeks, are the only ones to have seed sown directly into the ground. Carrots and parsnips have long tap roots that are very easily damaged if they are transplanted.