I hope all you gardeners and allotment holders are in good health and avoiding this virus.

My wife and I have been instructed by our doctor to self isolate, due to our health and age.

So that means ruling out going down to the allotment, until this is all over.

This is going to be hard and I will certainly miss the company.

This causes another problem, as to grow my crops i can only use the back garden and there is not a lot of space.

I will need to grow the bulk of the vegetables in pots and tubs that will be placed on the concrete runway up to the garage.

Potatoes will be grown in bags and peas, leeks, cabbage and cauliflower will be kept in the garden.

Tomatoes, cucumber, and peppers will be kept in the large greenhouse and the onions will be planted in the smaller greenhouse.

This will be a different type of gardening than growing in an allotment.

For a start, each pot and bag will need to be individually watered which is a time consuming job.

I do not expect to crop as much as what I would get from the allotment but these things are sent to try you. The one thing I am pleased about is that I sent away in January for my seed order and received them earlier in the year.

People are finding that with the shops closed, it is harder to purchase seeds or any other gardening equipment.

I also had 7.5 litre bags of compost delivered so I am all prepared for the year ahead.

It will certainly be an interesting year and I will keep you all updated with photos of the plants in pots and tubs.

Last week during the sunny spells that we had, I prepared the garden soil for the vegetables that will be grown there and removed any weeds that were lurking about.

I then scattered in 6X manure and dug it in.

The ground will now be left until planting time at the end of April to the beginning of June.

Gardening is certainly a waiting game and if you are not fishing you are mending your nets, as we are now in April and approaching time to sow our seed in the greenhouse.

The light and temperature are starting to climb however you should not begin sowing your seed to early.

Some people start off by sowing their seed in a hurry to get started and sow earlier than is necessary.

Even with daylight extending, the greenhouse will be cold and have insufficient light for seeds to germinate properly.

They will end up leggy and collapse which is known as damping off .

If you have sown frost tender plants, they will have outgrown their pots and trays before it is time to plant out.

Well friends I finish for now and wish each and every one of you good health and a successful gardening year.