Light Nights!

It really is lovely now that the nights are lighter – and the weather has been gorgeous – there’s time to do a bit in the evenings!

Spurred on by my good-looking trough of herbs planted on Saturday, I gave the trough of ancient strawberries a real treat too – they’ve had their hardships by being ignored for about 4 years and the other day I saw one of next doors cats ‘making use of the facilities’!

So I dug ‘em up, brushed ‘em down and replanting in fresh compost and gave them a straw blanket (to dissuade the cats!). Even if the five little plants just throw a few runners, that’ll do me and I’ll start again with new plants from them next year. I aspire, of course, to a magnificent table level strawberry planter (see Wellie and Trousers blog!) but let’s not run before we can walk!

I went to the Hill tonight on the pretext of getting a newspaper, and just happened to go to the newsagent over that way…

I was delighted to see the turnip sown just ten days ago are peeping up, then I hoed the between the beans and peas (which highlights AGAIN why I should sow with a string line!) and thinned out the radish sown on the 10th – the first lot of radish sown at the beginning of February under the cloche are ok, but look a bit wan, really.

I brought Billy Scarecrow home and spent a merry half hour giving him a substantial makeover, and now he looks a bit less like a freak show. Or my mother. (thank you to all contributors on that one!)

I sowed some ‘third time lucky’ CAULIFLOWER (all the year round) and CABBAGE (primo II) in jiffys in the hope that THIS TIME they don’t germinate in 12 hours, grow to 6” tall in 2 days then collapse with the effort of it all after a week.

No sign of the toms, courgette or leeks, but I suspect I’m being a bit impatient – no surprise there!