I once tried to explain to my dad, who must have been in his late 80’s at the time, what the Internet was. I likened it to the biggest library in the world, that had every book ever written, or the biggest encyclopedia in the world, that contained every fact known to man, and all of it just a ‘click’ away at your fingertips. Whether he really understood I don’t know.

Today I’ve been planning my seed sowing strategy for the coming weeks, and what’s the first thing I do when I get stuck? Do I take notice of the above Internet sales pitch? Of course I don’t, I reach for my favourite gardening book.

I wonder if it’s an ‘age’ thing, people of my generation were brought up with books. Admittedly, if I can’t find what I’m looking for in a book, I do venture on to the net, but somehow a book is more real, reassuring.

Anyway, it’s a good job I heeded my own advice for the new year and didn’t get carried away with the relatively mild weather in January. February has brought with it ferociously low temperatures, wickedly cold winds and the promise of heavy snow later today.

Sitting in the warm with a gardening book planning Spring, seems like exactly the right thing to be doing.