Although I have long given up making new year’s resolutions – spring and autumn feel like more appropriate times to focus on setting goals and ambitions – January is always the moment to start forward planning the new season’s vegetable garden.

So, with the raised beds rock solid after consecutive hard frosts this week, out come the old wooden boxes inherited from my great Aunty Megan (former Land Girl and expert vegetable grower well into her 90’s) containing all of my seeds, and the process of sorting, discarding and note taking begins.