My tiny plot has been looking sad through the winter. Covered mostly with black polythene to keep the soil warm. The only exception were the vegetable beds with white, or rather dirty-greyish, fleece on the top. Things are going to change soon. The first sign of this is the fleece tunnel erected to protect sprouting broad beans (Vicia faba ‘Aquadulce Claudia’). I sowed them in late November with little hope that they would survive the winter. I checked on them a week ago and noticed small seedlings peering through the soil. Out of all 16 seeds only two failed to germinate!