Plants really do grow fastest in spring - about 40 per cent of their annual growth can happen in a few weeks, given water, food and sunlight. I'm watching every tree I've planted in the last five years of drought suddenly double in size. Citrus I had entirely forgotten about are not only as tall as I am but covered in fruit. They've been dormant so long I can't even remember what kind they are, as their dangling fruit are all still dark to pale green. I'm hoping for 'no grapefruit', and preferably oranges, as two of our orange trees died in the last hot and fire-filled January. Mandarins or tangelos would be good too.

Just plant. Potted fruit trees will settle in quickly now, if the hole is at least twice as wide and deep as their pot and you water them in well after planting, then keep watering once a week. It's almost certainly safe to plant all the carrots you'll need for a year, enough tomatoes to guzzle lots every day, and sweet corn that should begin to be ready for the summer holidays: dash out, pick cobs, strip them then boil, or dip them husk and all in water then toss them on the barbeque, grilling each side till the husk is browned. Every kid needs to experience the taste of corn fresh from the plant, tasting of sunlight, not plastic.

Yes, a frost is possible. We've had a light frost here one January, and once a severe one in late November, but those were in drought years when the night sky was clear and cold. I think we are pretty safe this year, but no guarantees.

October is a month when it's still cool enough to get in a crop of peas, or potatoes. It's early enough to plant seeds of asparagus or artichoke now, and have them well established for next winter, or to 'borrow' cuttings of salvias, daisies, hydrangeas or divide dahlia clumps or agapanthus or iris.

Plant lots. I know the conventional advice to novice gardeners is 'start small', but if you start big you have an investment to protect, plus more reasons to be out in the garden picking something for dinner (a lettuce, a handful of parsley, a bunch of carrots, a lemon) or for breakfast (rhubarb to stew to go on your muesli, or fresh oranges or grapefruit for juice or marmalade). The more you're in the garden, the more likely you are to notice that a bit of weeding is needed, or the older leaves on the lime tree look yellowish and it's time to give the garden tucker.

The faster plants grow - and the bigger their harvest - the more feeding they need. Feed little and often all through the growing season, and they will feed you.

Plant flowers among the veg, and veg among the flowers too. When you pick the flowers (even sourpusses smile if you give them a bunch of flowers) you'll notice what the vegetables need, and when you harvest the veg you may also remember to tend the flowers. Veg and flowers planted together also confuse pests who recognise their preferred tucker by its shape or smell.

I'm planting sunflowers this year, mostly so I can show the grandkids how the flower heads follow the sun all day, and a strawflower mix, mostly because it's been years since I grew them, and also because if I fill the vases with them and forget them, they will slowly dry as the water evaporates, and I will have dried strawflowers to decorate the house this winter.

There is something deeply elemental about spring planting. Try it. Feel the sun upon your face, the warm soil on your hands. Smell freshly cut grass and watch fruit ripening and see the wonder and joy in a child's face as they pick a ripe mulberry or strawberry, and be reminded that this planet is a generous place for human kind, when we remember to treat it well.