And so it begins again. Another year of seed sowing. I did my first sowing of the year yesterday afternoon in the potting shed, and, as always, was completely and utterly in my element.

There’s a lot of talk of late about mindfulness and the need for us all to train our minds to slow down the chatter. Over the last few years, I’ve become interested in mindfulness meditation, sitting quietly for 10 minutes, usually first thing in the morning.

I’ve discovered that you tend to notice the benefits elsewhere in the day rather than during the 10 minutes on the cushion.

There are simply more moments during the day where you are fully present – noticing a sight or sound or sensation or smell, rather than being permanently distracted by the incessant stream of thoughts in your head.

I will have to wait until July to eat the first tomatoes. But at least we've started

You also notice that some activities lend themselves particularly well to mindfulness. You might have to remind yourself to focus on washing your teeth for example, for it is a task that becomes so routine and so boring that you rarely pay much attention to it.

But seed sowing for me is an activity that automatically silences the mind and brings me back to present moment awareness. I guess it’s because it’s such an intricate process, trying to coax the life out of tiny little seeds.

Anyway, it’s not surprising that the time I spend sowing seeds in the potting shed is generally when I am at my most content (and honestly, content is not a word that anyone would generally use to describe me). Seed sowing is my happy place.

I always find it ironic that the sowing year kicks off in what still feels like the depths of winter, with three of the quintessential Mediterranean crops – tomatoes, aubergines and peppers (chilli and sweet). But all three of these vegetables need a long growing season in our climate and so they benefit from a hats-and-scarf February sowing.

You have the option, of course, of waiting another few months and buying the seedlings for these vegetables from a garden centre, but if you want to sow from seed then now’s the time to get cracking.

It’s way too cold for them to germinate in our miserable February weather (they will need a temperature of between 21oC and 27oC) and so you need to provide them with artificial heat.

This can be done either by keeping them indoors on a sunny windowsill in the house or, if outside, in a greenhouse, polytunnel or in a potting shed where you will need a heated mat. These are relatively inexpensive to buy.

I sow tomatoes, aubergines and peppers in module trays (one seed to each module) and then place the trays themselves on the heated mat. The mat that I have is about 2m long and can be set to a specific temperature – it also has a sensor so if things warm up in the potting shed during the day, then it will switch itself off automatically.

Just to be sure, I also cover the module trays with fleece, which should make a bitterly cold Dunmore East feel a little more like the south of Spain. It will be a couple of months before the seedlings are moved on from the module trays in to their own pots – and longer again before they’re planted in the ground. Crucially, I will have to wait until July to eat the first tomatoes. But at least we’ve started…

Michael Kelly is founder of GIY and GROW HQ.

www.giy.ie