I got some delightfully drug-like coir bricks for my birthday. They’ll be a good thing to try for my seedlings in the spring. I’ll see whether I use it neat, or mix it with compost.

JBM and I went to the allotment for some work, pottering and talking. He dismantled the tomato frame and cleaned off the obelisk for me – and rescued me when I got stuck in the branches of the apple tree.

These carrots look better than they are. Turn them over and you’d see that most of them are completely split. Bit of a weird year for veg that’s usually easy.

I’ve moved the nicotiana to the triangle and the back bed is now empty, dug and covered with compost.

I continued to move plants and fill holes in the afternoon. I’ve done almost all of the weeding in the boundaries now, very little left to do. There will be a little more perennial filling, but I’m almost at the point where anything left in the middle beds is just compost/rubbish. I’ve taken some cornflowers from Bed 1, but although the bed is smothered in self-sown plants, they’re not really salvageable as there are so many weeds mixed in with them too.

I can’t believe how the Californian poppies have flourished – and turned out to be quite hardy. I even got to pull off a flower cap for my birthday. More gardening tomorrow.