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.

One extra challenge at the moment is lack of water, see this video of last summer for guidance. We are holding a hose more than normal, that is my next job today. Especially for new plantings, lettuce, celery and pea shoots. But not for any plantings such as potatoes.

There are many options for sowing, and the next few days are wonderful for being just before full moon. Seeds sown from now until 29th April, grow with extra vigour.

And even if you dismiss the importance of moon energy, it's just a wonderful time to sow squashes, sweetcorn and outdoor cucumbers. Just in my experience, not summer beans, not yet! They need just that little extra warmth without interruption, and I've had best results from sowing after 10th May, even in early June. Likewise for those in cooler climates, continue to wait.

Throughout May, here at least, nights can continue to be surprisingly cold, even after a day of wonderful sunshine and high temperature. During the last 9 days since 18th May, the temperatures have averaged 17.5°C, and as high as 22°C/72°F. But it changes quickly in the evening and night temperatures during that time have averaged 2.8°C/37°F, which means close to freezing at ground level. We've had several light grass frosts, and warmth-loving plants do not thrive unless you are lucky with the weather, or keep a fleece cover over, as in this dwarf beans video.

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If the nights warm up, which here could be this coming week, 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.

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. Last night, I rolled up the covers on spinach, lettuce, dill and 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. Since the weather is warm, I decided to remove the cover 10 days ago, only it's not ideal for kohlrabi at the far end, which may suffer from cabbage root fly damage.

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.

Celeriac with leek is a lovely combination for growing together, as in my new book. It was number one best seller in Vegetable Gardening on Amazon for a while. There are no reviews yet, and I should be happy if any of you can add one.

We are selling a lot from my website, and those are signed. Plus you can ask for a dedication.

There are so many exciting options for growing together. I've been harvesting plentiful radish from my 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.

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.

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 …