Less than a week ago temperatures were hovering around freezing point but today was nearly springlike. That’s February for you.

Mid February marks the start of the vegetable growing year and I’ve now planted shallots and the first parsnip seeds outdoors. The parsnips are interspaced with radish seeds, which grow quickly and mark the rows until the tiny parsnip seedlings are visible.

The (unheated) greenhouse is several degrees warmer than outside and especially pleasant when the sun shines. I’ve sown spinach and radish seeds here, as a quick crop to be harvested before tomato, pepper and aubergine plants take their place in late April and May.

Spinach seedlings

I’ve also planted pepper, chilli and aubergine seeds in a heated propagator on the front bedroom windowsill. I’ll turn the heat off in another month so the seedlings don’t become too leggy, then pot them on and keep them indoors on a sunny windowsill until they’re ready to go out in the greenhouse.

So all in all it’s a time of optimism, with good gardening weather and days that are noticeably longer. By May it’ll all become hectic but for now I’m savouring the measured, gentle start of a new growing season.