This morning threatened to start badly. Charley woke early and nobody was awake to tell him to go back to bed. It was so pretty out though, the sun through the irises and chive flowers. Then Erika called me back to bed and fell asleep again so hurrah I got a kind of lay in!

I felt much more functional than yesterday or Monday so I sorted the boys out and went and did breakfast right. Erika was still sleeping, and I got 25 minutes (25 minutes!!!) of actual uninterrupted bliss in the morning sunshine to eat my scones and drink my coffee hot before Erika appeared for a much happier sunshine cuddle!

I was so excited yesterday because the compost heap is actually steaming, it’s all toasty and damp and doing amazing things; today I’m excited because finally two tomato seedlings have popped up and so have two sweetcorn seedlings! The tomatos are safely ensconced inside their own private mini greenhouse now, and I hope there might be others popping up soon.

I am still poorly but at that weird stage where you think you’re kind of invincible (I think I’m gonna blame being slightly feverish for that). Looking back, thinking YEAH I got ENERGY let’s go DIG SOMETHING was not the sharpest idea but I almost finished turning the compost over into the second bay (and then spent another few minutes posing because pics or it didn’t happen!

By the time I’d cooled off I’d already forgotten how hot it was outside and went back out to finish off the trellis I’ve been working on. It was a frustrating effort. I watered the replacement strip I’d woven in yesterday, but missed a couple of spots and in the sun it dried too quickly so even though I’d softened it almost enough to work with safely, it still snapped. I took a few more long strips off the felled sycamore but they were just not long enough, and then when I finally did strip a long enough piece I snapped it as I nailed it in place. Frustrating. So I stopped trying to make it perfect as it was only for the peas, and finished the structural aspect, tying a post across the bottom to stop it bowing, and tying string diagonally across it to brace it. It still wiggles a little, it’s not the strongest thing ever, but it ought to do just nicely for the peas and maybe the broad beans too.

I’m only slightly excited that I can hopefully finally order some compost tomorrow, and get things in the ground at last!!

No more working. Okay I cut down a lot of docks that were flowering (really don’t need them seeding themselves everywhere again) and liberally sprinkled wild flower seeds into various wild borders, but the compost and trellis pretty much finished me off.

The kids have been fun. They decided they needed sunglasses. And Erika decided the most appropriate footwear for today was Charley’s trainers.

Pretty things! The underbelly of the strawberry world, a carpet of lilac stars, comfrey flowering, broad beans flowering (and Erika carrying her pet rocks).