It was 0ºC when I headed out this morning. Come the afternoon shift, it had climbed to a grand 1ºC. The pond was frozen, but had thawed a bit around the edges, so there was room to get in and out should anyone wish.

The robin’s back to haunt me, arriving on the fencepost as soon as I’d opened the shed door. I’ve hung the first coconut of the season, which I’m sure the rooks will find too.

The mustard was still standing after all the recent frosts, but a few leaves here and there were starting to look damaged. Since the ground was frozen here and there, I decided to just get on and chop it down. I did that for the tall plants while Mum covered most of the beds before I joined her. Some of the plastic sheets need to be re-done, which is probably a job I set myself last winter. It’s going to have to wait for a still spring day though … or next winter.

In the afternoon I made a start on weeding the ledge. Lots of weeds are now gone and I’ve also tidied up the sea thrift and fleabane a bit as they suddenly seemed huge. I came across one of the annoying shoots of everlasting pea and started digging only to find that it was coming from a huge root that was quite a job to get out.