That’s what I need, several times over, at least 4 of me, to get beds/containers ready for everything that’s crying out to get into the soil from their cramped pots!

And then I couldn’t pass up a bunch of purple sprouting plants for 50p at a village fete on Saturday – planted some out this evening in the small hinged bed.

Celery that has been languishing in modules for too long, planted out today but don’t have great hopes for it. Why do I sow too many seeds and then struggle to have places ready for the plants? At sowing time I always think I’ll have lots more beds ready to use by the time they are big enough to go out. Reality is I’m lucky if I get 2 beds constructed and filled ready to use in a growing season.

Prepared another tyre for planting. Skimmed the grass and weeds off first then laid a double layer of soaked cardboard onto which went the tyre. Soaked, crumpled newspaper was loosely packed into the tyre and a bucket of well rotted horse manure added to the central hole, topped off with soil, slightly mounded and courgette planted into this with a small sunken pot for watering. The first one, which went out in a similar tyre on May 30, is growing well and now ahead of this one.

Also planted out 2 Marketmore cucumbers, for which I still need to build an arch framework from one bed to the next.

Have moved the aeoneums and aloe vera outdoors now for the summer.

Clematis Etoile rose has been blown sideways quite a bit by the strong winds we’ve been having but seems to have survived without damage. I probably should have a go at easing it back to where it’s supposed to be and tying in place as it’s now smothering the neighbouring Koreana one. This is when the damage is likely to occur so will have to go gently.

I was just washing the Tom Thumb lettuce I picked this evening when DS2 arrived and eyed it up. ‘Shall I cut you one?’ ‘You couldn’t just put a bit of that washed stuff in a bag could you?’ Lazy blighter! Still, he had only just finished work (9pm) and was off home to get his supper so being Mum, that’s what I did. Ulterior motive? Who me? Mind you I do need the hen house and run put up sometime soon.