You should be cropping salads, broad beans, beetroot, cabbage, early peas, early potatoes, rhubarb and turnips.

Remember to keep sowing a small pinch of lettuce every two to three weeks to keep up with demand.

In very hot weather, lettuce will not germinate, so wait for cooler conditions, or sow in the evening in a cooler, shadier spot, moving to somewhere lighter once the seed is through.

Keep hoeing between the veg rows; if you make this a weekly job, it shouldn’t take too much time and weeds never become a big problem.

Watering may be a bigger job if we get the hot summer we’ve been promised. To be most effective, water in the evening so the moisture has a chance to sink in before it evaporates and, when the soil is moist, put down a light mulch of grass clippings between the rows to help conserve moisture.