A brilliant present

Trying to remember which seeds you have put in which tray is a nightmare - that's why they invented marker sticks.

But it's unhelpful when you're scratting around with silly little plastic markers and a blunt pencil, as I have been doing. So I was delighted with the Father's Day gift from my daughter Dorothy - a set of markers she painted herself.

Using some slate pointers and some wooden pointers she bought from Wilkinsons, she painted the names of the produce she thought I was growing. Jolly good guess too, only the sign for peas not useful at the moment.

I shall be out there in a minute with the markers. A very pleasing gift.

Izzy wizzy, let’s get busy

The garden has remained untouched after a bad back and tiring flu-type illness laid me low in health and spirit. Mind you, there was also snow for perhaps a week or more.

One gardening website - I forget which - reckons one should rule out January altogether for any outdoor work. But Susan, my weather oracle, believes it won't get bad again. She bases that on her gut feeling and seeing two huge flocks of geese flying in a north-west direction the other day while she was out walking the dog in the woods.

Whatever the outcome, there is a definite feeling of spring in the air and I have even got some produce to get started.

I mentioned the possibility of shallots in a blog posting last year and have finally got round to buying some from Poundland. They'll be going in the ground soon on a spot near the compost bin where crops have not really done well. Maybe this will finally be the year when something takes there.

Good friend Kate has given me some onions and first early potatoes called Rocket. She got hers from Wilkinsons, another fine store patronised by those on a tight budget.

You don't have to spend a fortune on seeds and bulbs, but I don't suppose a purist would approve.