Fresh organic vegetables in February on the Atlantic shore

Try to cultivate a vegetable garden here on the edge of the Atlantic and you will soon find that it's not the rain or the thin stony soil that is your biggest problem.... it's the wind.

Even where you have a dry stone wall as a windbreak, a fence or hedge the eddies curling over the top will stunt growth, but a few millimetres of clear plastic make a huge difference.

Step into my polythene tunnel out of the wind,at any season and the climate is transformed. In mid summer it could be the south of France in mid winter it's still warm and sheltered like growing in the Scilly Isles 800 miles south of here.

Today, 1st of February, I was able to harvest fresh carrots, beetroot, leeks and kale. These crops were sown last summer, they grew well through to late autumn. As the days shorten growth slows then stops but the crops, left in the raised beds have been preserved with bright green leaves just as they were at the end of summer.

It's time to eat more veg, to clear out the beds, sow salads, leeks, early carrots and garlic cloves.