.By unwelcome guests I don't mean friends, neighbours and fellow allotmenteers who may lean over the fence to offer a word of advice, spare produce, seeds, cup of tea (no one ever offers to do a bit of digging...)

No, 'volunteers' means shoots from potatoes left in the ground from last year, as I've just learnt. You need to remove them because they may carry potato blight. And no one wants that. If anyone can tell me why they're called that, I'd be grateful.

I'm sure we'll have a few volunteers because since we took over our plot a year ago, almost every time we've put a spade in the ground we've dug up some potatoes, no matter what we were actually expecting to unearth.

So this weekend we'll be out there with eyes peeled, on the lookout for eager volunteers to get rid of.

And while we're there, it'll be time to sow a few veg: broad beans and early peas. First need to dig a big trench for those, and fill it with compostable material and wet cardboard. And it's the last chance to get some garlic in.

If you want to know what to do in the garden now (including how to sow peas), see our gardening calendarwhich has links to things to do each month.