We have quite a large vegetable garden which is made up of several individual beds separated by grass paths. This means that there is a minimum amount of wading around in mud when weeding or the like in wet weather.

We have 6 round beds which all have permanent planting in them, blackcurrant x 3, asparagus x 2 and rhubarb x 1. The remaining 9 beds are rectangular and each measures 16′ x 4′, or at least that’s what they measured when they were first dug.

Ten years of soil movement and my weeding and edging technique, has meant that most of these beds are now less than ‘square’, or should that be rectangular? Anyway, one in particular is in need of a visit from the geometry police, but in reality they all need attention.

This basically means Peter with lots of pegs and a long tape measure. When I was at school I never dreamed that Pythagoras would be of such practical use.

However, that’s a job for another day. Today I’ve been concentrating on ‘crop rotation’. Each year I make sure not to plant the same thing in the same bed two years running. In fact I actually try to work on three years running for extra caution, but this isn’t always possible.

I have a template of the vegetable garden on an A4 sheet of paper and I pencil in the various crops for the year, having first checked with the previous 2 years planting to make sure things get moved around.

The strawberries usually get left in the same place, but this year even they’ve got a new home. Now all I need is the weather to warm up a bit and I’ll be away. Planting young plants in the vegetable garden is one of my favourite jobs. Roll on Spring.