成人快手

First green shoots

Sara Cox | 22:50 UK time, Monday, 27 April 2009

I've now been a gardener for a whole week, though to be honest I've not done much actual gardening in that time. What I have done is trot back and forth to my veg patch looking for signs of, well, anything, but have been disappointed to discover the same bare-looking oblong of mud.

It's slowly dawning on me that a large part of being of the green-fingered persuasion is waiting, watching and wondering. I'm beginning to worry that the 'watched kettle never boils' theory may apply to my veg patch, and the little things won't sprout up 'cos that scary lady with the yellow hair is still crouched down glaring at the ground.

This morning, though, there was a miraculous development in my window pots. Currently on my kitchen windowsill reside two small plant pots containing tomato seeds and two more housing my butternut squash seeds, and before this morning there had been no sign of life so imagine my delight when brewing up at breakfast I saw some beautiful baby green sprouty things sprouting up in each pot. I let out a small scream and nearly dropped my tea. I'm genuinely surprised by how thrilled I was. Hopefully if you planted your tom and squash seeds last week, you are seeing some action too.

Last Monday was the day I officially morphed from Sara Cox, DJ/presenter/international style icon to all the above plus vegetable grower. It all began with the very brilliant Toby and his Gardeners' World crew rocking up in their Dig In van with Ann from the blog, and besieging my garden to help create my vegetable patch. 38 cups of tea and a packet of biscuits later we'd dug up a 4 x 6 foot area and planted 3 rows of carrots and a square each of lettuce and beetroot.

We left a chunk free for my windowsill toms when they're big enough (I have a large tub for my squash). To keep my basset hound Snoop out we put a small green picket fence round the edge so it looks completely quaint and a little bit camp... I love it.

Since then I've had warnings from Brian, the lovely man who mows and tidies the lawn every fortnight, that on his allotment he's had to battle "carrot flies". Brilliant. As well as slugs, snails, wood pigeons, cats, foxes, small children and basset hounds, I now face a new gardening adversary:聽a fly that can apparently SMELL the carrots as soon as they begin nudging through the soil then wolfs them down overnight. PLEASE tell me he's winding me up and this mythical carrot-sniffing monster doesn't exist.

Please keep adding your comments to the blog - I'm聽loving reading about your potatoes chitting and kittens misbehaving. I'm insanely jealous of llanelligardener's corn on the cob and empathise with the glazing over that occurs in the eyes of pink-fingered people whenever veg patches and pots are mentioned. My boyfriend suffers terribly from vegpatch-boringitus. Hopefully I can cure him with some delicious homegrown carrots soon.

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About this blog

The Dig In campaign has finished now. Thanks to everyone who took part in the campaign throughout 2009 and 2010. We hope you enjoyed growing the Dig In seeds, especially those of you who are new to growing vegetables. This site is no longer being updated, but it is still packed full of useful information about growing veg.

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Expert authors

Our video expert is Blue Peter gardener Chris Collins. He's a qualified horticulturalist and award-winning gardener, who's presented shows on everything from allotments to Chelsea - . He loves sharing his experience with growers old and new!

Gareth Austin is resident gardening expert with 成人快手 Radio Foyle and lectures in horticulture in Northern Ireland. Gareth has made it a prority to encourage gardeners throughout Northern Ireland to 'reclaim the space' and start growing vegetables in any area they can find.

Maria del Carmen Casarrubios is a tutor and practical instructor at , Regent's Park. She trained at Capel Manor and Writtle College in Amenity Horticulture and has 20 years' experience of working with plants. Sally Smith

Sally Smith is a freelance gardening researcher and lecturer. She headed the advisory team at Garden Organic for many years. Pest and disease control by organic means is her speciality, Sally says: "Managing your soil is key to solving nearly all gardening problems, look after your compost heap, it's your most important asset." Sally Smith

Brendan Little trained at and . Brendan runs organic gardening courses, works as a garden designer and is in the 成人快手 Radio Ulster Gardeners' Corner team." Sally Smith

Karen Kenny is the Eastern Region Rep for the National Society of Allotment & Leisure Gardeners as well as on the management team of Suffolk and Ipswich allotments where she runs a site. Karen is also an accomplished lecturer on most gardening subjects, including allotments.

Peter Horrocks has an allotment in Newcastle. He's the regional rep for the in the North of England & Scotland, the secretary of the Newcastle Allotments Working Group. Plus, Peter is secretary of a ten-acre allotments site in Newcastle, considered by many to be one of the best in the city.

Ben Raskin is an advisor with the , as well as helping to run 22 acres of organic vegetables. With over 16 years of horticultural experience, including running market gardens and working at the Welsh College of Horticulture, he's an expert on organic matters.

Beechgrove Potting Shed is Radio Scotland's top gardening show, giving tips and advice to Scottish gardeners - and the odd Dig In grower - every Sunday.

Zoe tends the Dig In website. When she's not in the office you'll find her gardening on Hampstead Heath and in Regents Park.

Ann "Dig In" Kelly looked after the blog from day to day until May 2010. Bitten by the gardening bug a few years ago, she has progressed from a few growbags to a great big polytunnel. She hates slugs.