I find this the most exciting season of all, because the rate of growth is increasing day by day. In my 45th year of growing, it still surprises me. Perhaps the biggest challenge is not to get carried away, and here are a few guidelines, informed by difficulties I've had in springs past.

Through April, we have been watering a fair amount, especially salads, spinach and all new plantings. However, the weather is changing now and the first half of May looks to be quite wet in much of the UK, also somewhat cooler with arisk of frosts in prone areas.

Sowing

When tomatoes are planted, I do not string them up initially, because that allows use of a fleece cover on top, in case of frosty nights. Likewise with outside plantings, fleece is so useful as you can see in this dwarf beans video.

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Transplant soon

When the nights warm up, you can make first plantings of courgettes, sweetcorn and outdoor tomatoes, when transplants are ready. I always cover these early plantings with fleece, the warmest cover. It’s 30gsm thickness, roughly 1oz/sq yard, either made of plant matter, or spun polypropylene.

Covers off

I use a lot of covers in the spring and they bring growth forward fantastically, also giving protection from pests. Then it's a question of when to remove them. Recently I rolled up the covers on spinach, lettuce, dill, coriander, and beetroot.

Sometimes you need to remove covers because plants have grown too tall for them. This was the case for Hurst Greenshaft peas which this year I've planted in the middle of my trial beds. In April's warmth I decided to remove the cover, only it's not ideal for kohlrabi at the far end, which may suffer from cabbage root fly damage.

Covers staying on

On the other hand, I keep mesh covers on as protection from pests. They are currently on beds of carrots, brassicas such as cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, collards, also over onions.

I never used to keep a cover on onions, until two years ago, when Allium leaf miner arrived. And I find for onions that fleece can work as well as mesh, as long as it's a new piece which has no holes. Whereas brassicas prefer it a little cooler, even though the mesh protects them from high wind, if that happens.

I also cover new plantings of celeriac and leeks, as above. Both against aphids which can stunt the celery/celeriac during their first month, and the leaf miner. Likewise chard during its first month in the ground. All this is explained in my No Dig book.

Grow Together

My new book is still number one best seller in Vegetable Gardening on Amazon. I shall be grateful if you add a review.

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There are so many exciting options for growing together. I've been harvesting plentiful radish from the carrot beds, where the radish help carrots to emerge and push up the fleece cover, which sits directly on the ground in order to keep in early warmth. That's from sowings in the middle of March mostly.

Now is a good time to sow or plant between garlic, any of carrots, beetroot, lettuce and celeriac.

Compost for potting mix and containers

I'm enjoying great success from mixing 50% Gro Worm peat free compost, with 50% of my own worm compost. I add a handful of dried seaweed, fine rockdust from basalt, and wood ash, to each large bucketful. We never need to feed, and plants are super strong and healthy.

Other mix options include coir, but this contains no nutrients and needs careful additions of fertiliser. That is not my thing, because I prefer to grow organically, but I was sent some for trial. So far I'm impressed with how it works, plus an advantage of coir is easy transportation, because there's no moisture in it when you buy a slab. Then it expands massively after adding water.

Swedish tour 9th to 14th May, and more

I'm so happy to be feeling well and strong in time for this exciting trip. It includes talks about No Dig and Compost at Dalarna Country Fair, then in the evening of 10th May at Katrineholm, followed by a course day at Oasen på Åsen, which I believe is sold out. I finish in Gothenburg, for a talk on 13th May, and then another day of teaching on 14th in Lisa Månsson’s garden.

And there are more exciting event soon after that. I'm on a question time panel with Alan Titchmarsh at The Newt garden event on 16th May. The following day, Sunday 17th is Alhampton Gardens open, from 1 to 5 pm. And then I'm taking a day off with Press Day at Chelsea Flower Show. Followed by giving a talk at the relaunch of Leon food chain, in London on 20th.

How to find time for gardening? A question for many of us …