I’ve turned Mum’s gooseberries into jam and her redcurrants into jelly, the latter needed some additional pectin to set as I only used half the sugar from the recipe, but it is properly tasty. I pulled about 20 huge golden beetroot, which are destined to be roasted with garlic and chilli. I’ve also seen that the cape gooseberries have quite a few fruit…

I’m still picking off sawfly caterpillars from the gooseberry, hopefully I am fighting a winning battle, though the bush is looking a bit undressed with so many leaves missing!

It was great to have some rain this weekend. I spent Saturday morning frantically breaking up the cap that had formed in the beds so that the water would get in properly – clay can be a right pain sometimes! If it’s not sodden, it’s absolute concrete…

I’m now digging the last corner of the green bed, and I cannot WAIT till this is over! I have been impatient and started planting – cucumbers (white and pickling) and camomile are now at the ‘done’ end… Small Child was bribed with Monsters University (in 3D no less, and she also held out for popcorn) to come to the plot and help paint boards for the next (blue) installment, which will go across the current potato bed.

While one of the showers had me trapped in the shed I finally got round to putting up the ceiling hooks for my watering cans – it’s instantly tidier! I also made a toolrack for the shed door out of some surplus decking. Just what this shed needs! No more rootling about in the shed for hand tools that I chucked down at the end of the day – though I need a couple more hooks to fit everything on. It did take me a phenomenally long time to saw the decking to size – my arms were jelly by the end.

I am very tired today. A small bird decided to roost in the window feeder last night. Small Child and I convinced ourselves that it was hurt because this had never happened before. We’ve also recently seen some very scruffy little things that are obviously being picked on. Sleepless night of needless worry for both of us! It flew off at about 5am after a lovely kip in a bed of food.