‘It all looks a bit odd at the moment’ he said. ‘It’s because we broke the handle of the sledgehammer after only a few minutes and I didn’t have my spare on the van’. ‘So’, he said, ‘we’ve used the pickaxe to bash the posts in, that’s why they look such a mess……but it’s OK because that bit’ll get cut off before we’ve finished.’ What he didn’t realise was that we have two sledgehammers and they were not more than 10 feet away from where he stood. All he’d needed to do was ask.

The main part of the fence is in, although it has no gate and the rabbit proofing is not yet done, but progress is made again.

While they were on their lunch break, I slipped out with my camera and shot this – I think it’s really quite cool, despite it only looking like this because of an accident.

We were standing chatting over a cup of tea and I noticed something green…..right where I’ve planted the garlic…..yes, yes, yes!!!! It is. It’s garlic, it’s already poking up through the soil, only a week after planting. Fan-bloody-tastic. It was shooting when I planted it but the shoots were all under soil level. A mere week later, they’re all poking their faces towards the light as fast as they can.

While all that was going on, I was spraying the greenhouse with copper fungicide and the planting of chillis, sweet peppers and tomatoes will start tomorrow. The heated propagators are all lined up in a row, the greenhouse is ready, the pots are all clean and I am fired up with enthusiasm for the task.

Last year’s planting was all done in a scrabble, scrabble, scrabble environment – dig over a small patch, shove a few things in, then hope for the best. This year, I’m thrilled to say, it’s all looking very different indeed.

last year, love was in the air.