Looking out the window now we have steady sleet gusting down. Dismay reigns in gardening land… I’m going out in a few minutes and not looking forward to it one bit! In anticipation of the frosts all my tender plants are in from the balcony, crowding the landing.

At the plot there’s been a bit of progress – all the Charlottes are now on #92 and should be ready for lifting at the beginning of August. That leaves me just enough time to build a second saffron bed there & transfer bulbs before Autumn flowering starts. Walking onions and a Waldo thornless blackberry are also in, over by the ex-artichoke. Which is showing disturbing signs of not actually being dead – sod’s law that there isn’t room for it there now!

I’ve started rolling back #92’s tarps. They were put down over thick card last year. The ground underneath is satisfyingly bare of most weeds and the card has almost completely disappeared. I am hoping this will be both quick and easy, just for a change! A second row of Joan J raspberries from this year’s runners is going in, in giddy anticipation of an autumn glut. Next over will go Mum’s blackcurrants, some ‘spare’ redcurrants and possibly the gooseberries for training into standards. The latter have been ripped out of the bed and potted up. I broke the top off the best one, which was annoying.

Other hefty work – turning leafmould and turning compost bins to mix in grass clippings. In a fit of not-really-altruism I’ve tidied a few extra verges in pursuit of more heat-giving grass! Four builders’ bags of leaves has shrunk to just over one in 6 months. I should still get a fair bit of leafmould for next year’s seed compost, but I am amazed at how far it shrinks.

In memory of Prince, whose music I have loved since the 80s : Sometimes it snows in April