After a long winter of indecision, I really can't leave it any longer to order seeds and have to make my mind up what to plant in my new vegetable patch. I have only managed to prepare an area 4m x 1.5m, so space is at a premium and I have to prioritise what I want to grow.

I live twenty miles from the nearest greengrocer and only stock up on veg every two weeks. That means there are a lot of things I don't get to eat as often as I'd like because they have a short shelf life, such as spinach and lettuce. These leafy things therefore have a high growing priority. My next priorities are for things that I can rarely find in the local shops and then for veg which I have access to but are expensive to buy. Loose-leaf lettuce varieties such as oakleaf and Lollo Rosso fall into all three of these categories, so I will be growing a lot of those! I'm not going to bother yet with things like onions, potatoes and cabbage which are cheap and readily available, although I will chuck a few carrots in just to see how they do and what they taste like.

I am limited in what I can grow by the fact that I don't have a greenhouse and the local microclimate. I have been warned by a lady from my village that 'exotic' things won't do well here. Although we don't seem to suffer particularly from frost, we are in a rather exposed location and it rarely gets hot. Peppers and aubergines are definitely out, sadly, but I am going to give some courgettes a shot. Tomatoes may just be possible, but I think I will wait another year for them. I am also a little concerned that the soil may be too shallow for root vegetables. I'll just have to wait and see how the carrots get on.

So, I have just ordered a batch of seeds from the organic gardening catalogue: a few varieties of lettuce and salad leaves, summer spinach, french beans, carrots, swiss chard and a few herbs for my pots. Due to financial constraints I've only ordered things that need planting by April. I'll probably order some more for late summer planting in June or July, when I'll hopefully also have a bit more space available.

Yes, I have finally created the recipe database! Soon you will be able to search it by vegetable, I promise. Currently there is just the one recipe available for your delectation, lentil moussaka. The lentil moussaka at my local pub is by far and away the best vegetarian dish on the menu. I sampled it so many times when I first moved to the area that I was soon able to recreate it at home.

Sadly, now I've perfected the recipe and adapted it to my tastes, I no longer get the same pleasure from eating it at the pub. Such is life.

A good friend of mine has commented that she's not convinced about the tomato ketchup in the moussaka recipe. She said that this may be because she is a food snob. As a food snob myself I am slightly affronted by this and feel I must set the record straight.

Although we associate ketchup with modern junk food, it has a long history, and there can be a lot more to it than just tomatoes, vinegar and sugar. It's Western soy sauce; few things deliver such a big umami punch. I confess that I do have a personal penchant for the cheap, vinegary variety, but it doesn't have to be that way. There are many luxury and organic varieties available. Even that paragon of culinary purity, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, is an afficionado. Why don't you try his recipe? It's not the right season now, of course, but come late summer I think I might give that one a whirl.

Mind you, I can understand being sceptical about ketchup in a recipe. I felt the same way the first time I encountered it. If you are unsure, you could replace it with sundried tomato puree or as my friend suggested, chopped sundried tomatoes. However, I urge you to try it just the once. You may be surprised, as I was, at just what it can add to a dish.