Of course, to be sure of having plants to fill these spaces, the preparation needs to have started some months ago when the seed should have been sown in modules. In spite of my best intentions, however, I have once again not managed to produce my own brassica or leek seedlings and am in danger of having an empty plot over the winter months and an empty larder next spring.

Am I despairing? Certainly not. All is not lost. I have not got this far in life without discovering that there are few disasters that can’t be repaired by going shopping and if you happen to find yourself in the same boat as me then read on and rejoice.

There are plenty of safety nets out there for allotmenteers as unskilled or disorganised as me, or for those who have recently taken on plots and need plants quickly to fill recently cultivated beds. Delfland Nurseries caters for those of us who try to be organic by providing plug plants and seedlings all year round, and at reasonable prices (no, I’m not on commission). True, it will always be cheaper to grow your brassicas from seed yourself, but at £1.50 for 5 cabbages, they’re still pretty reasonable. Alternatively, Dobies are tried and tested (though not, I think organic) and seem to get good results - we had some lovely over-wintering onions from them last year.

So, a plot full of healthy, thriving vegetables with minumum effort. What more could you want?

My first attempt at plaiting garlic. The second one is better, you’ll have to turst me on that.

The instructions on how to do it were given to me by a fellow allotmenteer.

Instructions here

Since ethylene helps with ripening you might want to put these next to some bananas, maybe in a paper bag.

I have pasted some info on ripening green maters below:

red tomato pigments, lycopene and carotene, are not produced above 29 degrees C nor lycopene below 10 degrees C

Extended exposure to cool temperatures interferes with ripening and flavor development

Store mature green tomatoes at 10 to 21 degrees C. Once fruit is fully ripe, it can be stored at 7 to 10 degrees C with a relative humidity of 90 – 95%.

Ripening enzymes are destroyed by cold temperatures whether in the garden or in a refrigerator

Ripen tomatoes in well-ventilated, open cardboard boxes at room temperature checking them every few days to eliminate those that may have spoiled. Mature green tomatoes will ripen in 14 days at 21 degrees C and 28 days at 10 degrees C.

A really good way of making a visible difference quickly is to enlist the help of a group of friends. A large posse will get more done in one afternoon than you could manage on your own over the entire growing season. Needless to say, they need to be very good friends and you should be prepared to bribe reward them for their efforts.

Having very recently inflicted just this kind of activity on my own pals, I’d like to pass on the following tips for an enjoyable and productive day:

- Book a date well in advance so that your friends have lots of notice and space in their diaries and you will end up with more personnel. Long term planning does mean that you will be gambling with the weather, so choose a relatively summery time of year, cross your fingers and suggest people bring waterproofs just in case.

- Keep your workers happy - take plenty of supplies of food and drink. think carefully about whether alcohol is worth having during or after the event. Only you know which will better motivate your crew.

- If possible, plan the day around a particular project such as erecting a shed or greenhouse, building raised beds or rotovating the plot. People will enjoy the day much more if they can see that this is a big job that you would have struggled with on your own, and there will be a real sense of achievement when the job is done.

- That said, try to have a range of smaller tasks and activities available that people can do if they start to get bored. Your team is more likely to stay around for longer if they are kept interested.

- Finally, don’t take it too seriously. Have a laugh, take photos, tell jokes, get covered in mud. It’s not just about getting work done, it’s also about having fun.

How to keep the slugs at bay:

:: Open a Slug Pub. I think we all know about sinking a container half filled with beer in the ground.
:: Smear Vaseline around the edge of puts so the slugs can’t climb over and attack the plants
:: Scatter crushed eggshells around young plants so that slugs can’t crawl to them
:: Ash, hawthorn twigs and holly leaves scattered around will stop slugs crawling to your plants
:: After having greased the edge of your pots, don’t place them too close to the wall or the slugs will just climb up and leap in
:: Smear lettuce or cabbage leaves with lard and leave them lying around. When they are covered with slugs, just throw them away
:: Encourage frogs onto your allotment or keep a couple in your greenhouse

I’m not sure if any of these will work but they would be worth a try. Feel free to add any more suggestions.

This morning, I managed to clear a bit of bind weed & horse tail infested plot to sow some parsley and coriander seeds.

Both parsley and coriander prefer slightly shadey positions, so they have been sown at the back of the plot in front of the jerusalem artichokes.

The parsley cost me £1.50 from the garden center - the coriander seeds, however, cost 90p from Sainsburys. Someone told me that many of the seeds in spice refils you can get from supermarkets will germinate, so at a 1/4 the price by weight, I thought I’d give it a go.

Last year I sucessfully grew some sweet peppers from the seeds of a Sainsburys ‘taste the difference’ range red pepper and I have my fingers crossed after putting some onion squash seeds in pots obtained from a squash I bought last year at the farmer’s market.

It makes sense to ensure that the plot really is abandoned so that you don’t get accused of invading someone else’s patch.