Will you join me in welcoming back the Guardian gardening blog? After a hiatus - during which time I got my first shed, planted my first green roof and had a baby - I am back in my stripy deckchair at Guardian Towers, committed to bringing you the very best blogging about gardens, gardening, plants and all things horticultural. And all just in time for Easter, the traditional time to get out in the garden and start growing.
Many things haven't changed - I'll still be bringing you great giveaways, stonking debates on the latest controversies in gardening, reports on the big gardening shows including Chelsea and Hampton Court, and tips on everything from worm composting to wisteria pruning. There are a few tweaks and new additions, though - the Friday Debate moves to Mondays to become the, er, Monday Debate, leaving room for what I'm calling Shooting the Breeze - a regular Friday post that invites you to do the talking: a chance to share with other readers what you're doing in your garden at the weekend, tell us what plants you're lusting after or gardens you're visiting, and ask for help with those tricky dilemmas or identification problems.
There will also be regular contributions from artist Greg Becker, whose illustrated allotment diary, plot 52, charts the triumphs and trials of growing your own veg. Above is the first of his offerings, Beware of the Dandy Lions, which certainly struck a chord with me - love it or hate it (and I am mostly in the first group) Taraxacum officinale certainly seems to be thriving this year.
If you want to keep abreast of everything that's happening on the Guardian gardens pages, follow @guardiangardens on Twitter for regular updates and join our Facebook page too. And do let me know what you think, and what you'd like to see on the blog, in the comments below.
