I’ve been weeding and sowing, weeding and sitting down. There’s a lot of weeds and the worst of the clearing is still to come. Between the graft, a few moments of distraction are welcome. And so the Bird Protection System (mark 1) is now up and running:

Old archive CDs attached to old canes

In situ in the greens patch

I predict that the chances of success here are pretty much zero. As chatty neighbour commented this afternoon, by 8pm our fruit cage resembles Hitchcock’s The Birds, the favourite roosting spot for the pigeons. Apparently there is also a monster fox in residence on her plot, fat from all the rats.

Since Monday the lettuce have grown proud and strong, and the broad beans are in pod, but alas the cima di rapa has already been pilfered by a pest. Getting close to the soil makes the tiny become visible. What I believed to be weeds are in fact the tiniest of carrot and parsnip shoots, stoically making their way through the rock-hard soil.

After planting out the heartsease violas, I take home the first harvest of the year: a salad of lettuce, sorrel and rocket (just enough for two), plus pots of hyssop, parsley and coriander, grown from seed.

First harvest of the year: hyssop, coriander, parsley, lettuce, sorrel and rocket

Tiny heartsease viola, looking to the sun

Planted out: lolla rossa, viola

Sowed: green lettuce bowl mix, more russian red kale, chicory

Weeded: greens, onions, broad beans, peas, carrots, prepped soil for cosmos