All is quiet and cold on the plot, but there’s work to be done

Deep sleep: a view across the allotments from the main entrance. Photograph: Allan Jenkins

A month on from deep midwinter. Slowly closing in on spring. Daylight is already more than half an hour longer. There will soon be stirring on the allotment.

The Japanese frilled mustard leaves survive. Battered beet stems show crimson against the frosted soil. Shards of ice shape like plant impressions.