A lovely warm spell last week gave a noticeable boost to spring progress on our allotment.

Alongside the fruit trees and bushes that have put on a lot of leaf, the rhubarb is beginning to look like it could survive a picking or two, which also means that the first small harvest of asparagus won't be far off.

As many things shift into a faster growing gear, they can benefit from a feed and a mulch. Mulching around your rhubarb crowns will keep weeds at bay and also reduce drought stress during summer – always an outside possibility!

I love rhubarb, but if you don't enjoy the flavour, it's still a useful crop for making wine, and, of course, a lovely rhubarb and ginger jam. Apparently, it is also a very good cleaner for pots and pans, and can be used as a bleaching agent.

Mulching pathways is also a very good idea, making access to growing areas so much easier, and it keeps weeds at bay, too. I think that this is one of the most useful spring preparation jobs you can be getting on with, just as the tree maintenance work around the city is finishing, and a van load of chippings delivered to your allotment site is there for the asking. These are a wonderful free resource, if you can get them.

Another free resource that I really miss now that we no longer have our hens is poultry manure. It is so rich in nitrogen that it works wonders on speeding up a compost heap, and (when well-rotted) makes a great spring feed for heavy leafers, like brassicas. Pelleted poultry manure will have to do.

Incidentally, spring cabbages might give you a small but useful second crop if (instead of pulling them straight from the soil) you cut them carefully, leaving the stem undisturbed. Then cut a cross in the top of the stem. If you're lucky, you will get a free "spring greens" crop from the regrowth that happens in each quarter.

This week indoors, I have made a start on sowing some winter brassicas; Brussels sprouts, kale and purple sprouting broccoli all need starting early if they are to crop properly through winter.

In strong contrast, the tomatillos that I love to grow for their spicy hot salsa flavour have also been sown indoors this week.

But as well as early vegetables, I also like to sow some annual flower seeds. I know that if I don't do these early on, then I won't, as space and time later in the season inevitably concentrates on the edibles. Nigella, calendula and poached egg plant are all very easy to grow, and have brilliant wildlife value. The traditional calendula marigold is easily my favourite, but this year I have also sown the much larger showier African marigolds, and French marigolds in citrus colours, after being shown how easy it is to dye your clothes with them. Email me at Fiona.Sanderson@mac.com if you'd like to know more about this.