To cloche or not to cloche in February, maybe even March? The deepening urge to get early flower and vegetable seed in the ground as we close in on the end of the month.
We have often sown under cover on Plot 29. Most likely out of my impatience. But perhaps the longer we have been here the less likely it is.
Our small plot seems settled without it. Apart from summer’s French bean, pea and sweetpea tipis, height comes with wild fennel, amaranth, and the verbena bonariensis that grows almost everywhere on site.
Our neighbour has an extravagant teasel that escaped the nearby bank. I think I would be very happy if it spread into ours. Tall branches outstretched to welcome bees.
Last year, we used a starter tray for my daughter Kala’s red sweetcorn. And perhaps we will again soon. Other times, they have been useful for sowing sweetpeas, though we are more likely to ask Fern Verrow grower Jane Scotter to start them in her greenhouse.
For now, we will stick to growing seeds in situ. Though I often over-generously over-sow as though somehow bewildered by germination; as if the magic of birth mystifies me.
I am impatient, though, for the first wild growth. Excited by snowdrops, the first wood anemones. Scanning for bluebells and shy primrose. The precious early flowers. But increasingly we hold back on early sowing on the plot. Content with autumn’s scattered radicchio; the revival of the Japanese mustards; the reborn red beet leaves.
That said, I still crave the taste of early baby broad beans. But for now I am satisfied with the thought of spring daffodils and narcissi. March is only a couple of weeks away. But please tell us, what are you looking forward to sowing and growing wherever you are?
Allan Jenkins’s Plot 29 (4th Estate, £9.99) is out now. Order it for £8.49 from guardianbookshop.com
