I really love the first few months of the year, because this is when I start to plan my next season's growing schedule. When March arrives I'll start planting my early potatoes and my Jerusalem artichoke tubers. I normally wait until the second week of the month as the weather is usually that little bit more favourable although over recent years it has been somewhat unpredictable so I always keep a careful watch on the weather reports during this time of the year.

This year I intend on establishing an asparagus bed too using crowns. I will do this carefully allowing each row to be a least three feet apart. Each plant will be a foot apart and two inches into the soil. This will be the first time that I have grown asparagus so I know how important it is to get the spacings right in order for the crowns to grow well giving me nice long stalks when they are eventually well established and ready to harvest. I have always loved asparagus and thought it was about time I grew my own because much of shop bought asparagus just doesn't have the same wonderful flavour as the ones you grow.

March is the perfect time to sow seeds so my beetroot, broad beans, parsnips, early turnips and spinach beet will all get sown. I also like to sow my tomatoes, aubergines and cucumbers and place these in the greenhouse, although I do start some off on my windowsills.

March is a great time to plant summer cabbages and early cauliflowers, but these should be under cloches. I like to set these up a few weeks before I actually do any planting so that the ground is nicely warmed up and I know I'll get better results. March is also the time of the year when all my general jobs around the garden and vegetable plot get done, which includes pruning my gooseberry bushes and if you have apple trees this is the time to give them a prune as well.

I know that after March life in my garden and on my vegetable patch will get busier and busier with lots of things to tend to, so it really is the best time of the growing season because the plans made at this time of the year and the I do will pay dividends in the months to come.