In this month's RHS magazine, Ursula Buchan mentioned that academic diaries were a good reminder that the gardening year begins in the Autumn, not Easter weekend (which I gather is the busiest weekend of the year for gardening centres). I got a bit paranoid for a moment, as I am definitely a fair weather gardener - you won't even catch me out in the garden on Easter Weekend if it's cold outside. But I've now seen the light.

One of the bits I liked best about school was the moment they handed out new jotters - unsullied by ink blots, doodles and hearts with the initials of the object of one's teenage crush. Then there was the new stationery and, if very lucky, new school uniform to replace long outgrown blazers or trousers that were generally greeted with the cry of 'you should put jam on your socks and invite your trousers up to tea!'.

So when Ms Buchan extolled the benefits of planting out in September (warm soil and more pleasant weather than Easter Weekend), my thoughts immediately turned to .... shopping. Oh me, my. It is amazing how much you can spend sitting at a computer, ignoring that Little Voice - which started shouting very loudly indeed after two orders of seeds and dahlia tubers - that said 'where on earth are you going to put these plants in a garden that is the size of a postage stamp - or rather, the size of a postage stamp that has no part of the Queen's head on it?' Well, I managed to ignore Little Big Voice in much the same way that I blotted out Mr Edwards' attempts to teach me Latin. But a day later, I now have that end of the summer holiday feeling that I really should have done a bit more homework.