February can be a frustrating month for the allotment gardener. We’ve decided what we want to grow, ordered our seeds, planned where we intend to grow everything and now we’re waiting. Yes, there are a few vegetables to sow in February if we have a heated propagator, a warm sunny window sill and a co-operative partner but …

My number one gardening hero is my dad. A self taught gardener he’s successful with flowers as well as vegetables. He has the gift of green fingers, anything he tries seems to be a success. There’s no science behind it as far as I can see. ‘Just plant it, it’ll grow’ he says.

My number one gardening hero is my dad. A self taught gardener he’s successful with flowers as well as vegetables. He has the gift of green fingers, anything he tries seems to be a success. There’s no science behind it as far as I can see. ‘Just plant it, it’ll grow’ he says. And it does. If I’m behind on my sowing or planting his advice will be, ‘Don’t worry, it’ll catch up’. Invariably he’s right.

To dig or not to dig? That is the question often debated on television and radio gardening programmes, in the pages of gardening magazines, and on websites and blogs from all over the world, not to mention up the plot and over the garden fence. The conversations can become more heated than a compost heap in the middle of summer, but is there a right or wrong answer to that question?

As I write this post it’s almost new year’s eve 2020. There’s another growing season ahead. Another year to enjoy the fresh air, feel the sun, the wind and the rain and to watch things grow, appreciate the flowers, the vegetables, the fruits of our labours.