A good four hours on the plot while Tom was at work, super early in the morning and the first time this year where it’s actually been warm and pleasant. The grass at the plot thought thought so too, having strimmed it just the other week I set about cutting it once again. We have more abandoned plots and I fear we will be surrounded by tall grass all summer if we don’t keep on top of it. A plus side, all the grass cuttings went on to the compost.

I started the morning off by weeding and edging the beds. I don’t intend to keep on top of edging the beds but while I was in the mood it keeps it looking tidy. There are not many ‘normal’ weeds, those that I see I am picking out while they are small seedlings with the idea of weeds not being a problem. Bindweed however, I went round all the normal spots and dug them back out again, this is a weekly job.

I was pleased to see some potatoes starting to show, and the more I looked the more I noticed them, some of them have purple leaves. They are all still only popping through and so I left it until next week to bank them up a bit.

No parsnip seedlings yet showing, maybe I have not left it long enough yet, I meant to sow radish in between them but forgot. Normally once the radish are ready you start to notice the parsnips. I sowed some more, just to be on the safe side. I also sowed a row of carrots.

The peas have survived their first nights at the plot and I planted the remaining lot, giving me one long row.

Last month I added a lot of not very composted down horse manure to the end of the plot and left it there. This is the same place that had cardboard over it. This morning I dug it all over and made ready for squash plants later next month. The cardboard had mostly gone and the manure had broken down and incorporated itself into the soil

This all meant, when I got home I sowed in pots and put undercover:

• courgette
• pumpkin
• butternut squash