Fleece covers are opaque and look as though they're excluding a lot of light. In fact they don't and plants grow really well in the sheltered environment underneath. The 70% of light which passes through has double value because fleece holds the infrared warmth it creates.

Without a cover the warmth would blow away. It's a net gain at a time of year when warmth is is short supply, while often there is more light than than uncovered plants can use, because of low temperatures.

In the UK, this coming Easter weekend looks a windy one. Another option to mitigate these winds is mesh on hoops, although it’s less warm than fleece. In the middle of the above photo is cabbage under mesh, which have been growing with the cover on all their life, for five months, and they are super healthy.

Another option is covers made from plant matter. I've been really impressed with these, both for the quality of growth underneath, and how they are lasting for at least two years, so far. I hope for another two years before they start to decompose. So although more expensive, I warmly recommend them.

This is impressive when reflecting that my garden is 51° latitude, resulting in low levels of light through winter’s short days. And even now after the equinox, it’s still cool. No dig makes it easier to garden in non-perfect conditions, as our beginner’s course. The weather when planting these turnips was very wet, but soil structure thanks to no dig, is firm: paths are accessible throughout the year, and the weather does not affect our ability to do any job..

The small garden (below) is underway, see my new video about it. I also mention suffering cancer this winter, which was a bleak one for me, but I am healing now. And I'm very heartened by all the support I've received and am receiving, as you can see from the comments to this video.

A big sowing now is leeks, as in this how-to-grow video. By mid-April it’s good to sow sweetcorn, cucumber, winter squash and courgettes, the latter is still unpublished so you are the first to see it. These videos have a lot of information about growing through to harvesting, and how to pick them.

Other sowings now, unless already made, are lettuce, salad onions, chard, cabbage, calabrese, cauliflower, radish, tomatoes, beetroot, carrots, potatoes, parsley-dill-coriander, celery, and celeriac asap. See my Calendar for more options though the year, and we are reducing the price on 1st April.

Propagation under cover is vital in early spring, to give early seedlings more chance of succeeding. Also with good kit, you can raise many seedlings in a small space. The cells of my CD60 trays do not need much compost or space. I planted a 6.5 m / 20' bed with plants from just two trays, and they were only 18 days old when they went in the ground on 21st February.

Incidentally, these trays are much cheaper from Containerwise, as in my link, compared to Amazon. Containerwise also have a great range of other trays and accessories.

The hotbed of fresh horse manure is an invaluable aid. Every three weeks or so, we collect more fresh manure from the local stables to keep it topped up and at a good temperature, 40 to 50°C / low hundreds F. That's good for starting almost everything. Under the trays is simply a wooden frame on top of the warm manure and straw.

Another method I use , to give warmth to newly sown trays, is bringing them into the house for just five to seven days, until I see first leaves. After which they need full light, say 7-14 days on the hotbed, followed by a week or so on an unheated bench in the greenhouse or tunnel, timings depending on each vegetable.

The size of onions and lettuce in the above photo give an idea of seedling size, before I plant them. The small modules are quick to plant, using a long handled dibber.

See these onions as well:

The onion pest is new: Allium leaf miner. These flies are most active from now until the end of May, in this climate.

So that's why I remove the cover in late May, to reveal an impressive crop of beautifully green leaves, which keep pushing up the cover sitting on them. See how the leaf tops are a little bent through doing that.

This planting gave a huge number of onions by the middle of last July., and we are still eating them. A true winter and hungry gap staple.

I mostly use the fleece directly on seedlings, both to hold heat close to them, and to make it less prone to blowing away in spring winds. For the lettuce below where the fleece is on high tensile hoops, we've had to secure it a couple of times in high wind.

I want the elevation in order to protect leaves from frost damage, which happens where they are in contact with the cover during a freezing night. As it happens, we've had only three frosts since those lettuce went in, all around -2°C. And lettuce which I have under fleece with no hoops have actually survived fine, this year.

This page shows the weather at Homeacres, right now. I'm still hoping that we can work out how to show data from other times, and monthly summaries. This year, March has been no warmer than February, with average day temperatures 13.1°C / 55°F, and night temperatures 3.4°C / 40°F.

Early sowings of carrots are maddeningly slow to emerge, between 10 and 18 days between sowing and first leaves. During April here it's often two weeks, so don't give up if you maybe think they have not germinated. It helps to sow a few radish in the carrot rows, as above. See my https://geni.us/GrowTogether  book for 50 companion planting recommendations.

One advantage of this intersow is how it reveals the rows at an early stage, so that you can safely pass a hoe through soil between the rows. That disturbs germinating and sometimes not yet visible weeds, a big job at this time of year.

Also the radish leaves are strong and rapid, pushing up the cover and affording protection to tiny carrot seedlings.

In addition, I use multisown radish, transplanted often when only two weeks old, to fill gaps between salad plants which have either suffered mildew in winter, or been eaten by slugs and leatherjackets in spring.

Nematodes are an option for controlling slugs, and leatherjackets, especially slugs in high number. Just apply them once, to reduce the potential damage going forwards.

Rudi radish are fantastic for how they continue to swell, without hollow centres or woodiness. Plus in the cool conditions during April, their flavour is mild and with a juicy texture, compared to how they mature during summer months. I find them beautifully refreshing.

See my other recommendations at Premier Seeds Direct. The seeds sadly are available in the UK only, because of Brexit.

This talk is coming up: if you are local, I hope to see you there.

Another option is my presentation of the new Grow Together book, at Topping's wonderful bookshop in Bath, on 14th April.

And if you missed the webinar about access to land, it's now on YouTube.