Just like cricket, the covers are off.

My plot has been hiding under plastic all through the winter but at the first sign of warmier weather I decided it was time for action.

It is a choice between leaving the plastic on the warm the soil some more and digging the ground over and letting the birds eat the bugs that will get to the veg before me!!!

For the beds that will be spuds and onions I decided that bug free was probably more important than heated, so off came the covers, out came the spade and a good dig over and a liberal sprinkling of Growmore was in order.

I constructed a couple of wooden frame type thingeys to put polythene over for clouches for carrots and parsnips in a couple of weeks, i've another to do for lettuces soon.

The coldframe now has glass and the leeks have taken up residence in there, along with a couple of grow bags in which a line of radishes and spring onions has been sown.

at night if it is looking too cold then I throw a blanket over it and pop in a couple of bottles of hot tap water, which are able to raise the temp by 2-3 degrees to ward off frost.