It turns out I could fit another 24 strawberry plants in the top fruit bed, so now there are 50 amongst the redcurrants and gooseberry, all tucked up in straw and fruiting merrily. I’ve also netted the berries in the bottom bed, since something is taking off the green strawberries. With the risk of sounding a bit like an advert, the woven netting from Nutleys really is brilliant, very flexible and non-tangly. The climbing beans finally look like they are on the move and might actually want to climb soon, so they now have a bit of netting to help them skywards and over my arch – can’t wait for that!

More good news is that the lovely people at Greenfingers have said that they will replace my culticave, and not just that, but I can also keep the old one as a spare. I wasn’t expecting that, and it’s a great bonus ‘cos you can link them together! Just need to get some clear polytunnel tape to fix the tears in the wall and door…

The cave is full of plants, and it gets quite wet in there. I need to switch one of the plastic doors for the mesh one to get some air in. They are all putting on a growth spurt with the added warmth and sun compared to conditions in my flat.

I spent today painting boards ready for the final sally to Build Green Beds, also watering everything thoroughly and sorting out the potatoes, which are not doing as well as I’d like. They are smaller than everyone else’s (I had a proper nosey around my field to check!) and the plants at the top of the bed are quite stunted. I’ve given them a comfrey/seaweed feed (ran out of comfrey part way along and had to switch), thoroughly weeded and re-earthed them up – my enthusiastic watering had eroded quite a few of the hillocks! After Alan’s comments about the Gardening Borg I couldn’t help chortling when I was weeding row 7 of 9….

The first earlies I stuck in a big pot 2 weeks ago are already through and look like they might overtake the rubbish results in the bed fairly soon. The potted charlottes are huge now too. It has to be something to do with the overwintered manure, it really has to be!

A fox has been digging in my new pink bed – some of the garlic and beans are casualties, but I have stuck 3 courgettes in the spaces. It would have been 4, but I snapped the 8-ball courgette when de-potting it…d’oh!

Today’s harvest: the rest of the radishes, some huge broad bean pods, chard flowers and a small but delicious pot of strawberries.