It was cloudy, but warm today and the soil was damp and crumbly, perfect for weeding, digging and sowing. The ground even looked nice because it was brown not grey!

Finally I got the last of the plug plants into the ground and while I was doing that, Mr R came in to strip the grass as a favour. He’d been doing Mr C’s new plot next door when we arrived, but I hadn’t realised it was him under the safety visor. Having the grass all under control really makes a big difference to the way the plot looks.

Mum finished digging over the front potato bed and made that look nice again. Now it’s ready for the pumpkins and the failed potatoes are properly history. We also put in two vertical poles for the ornamental squash and I’ve put in two short poles in front of them to see if putting the netting at a slight angle will be more supportive the squash. Other people’s set ups like this seem to be split 50-50 on straight up or at an angle.

Dad also sawed off the nailed ends of the other two poles that will be in the other ornamental squash bed. I’m still undecided as to what exactly to do with my tomato / veg / ornamental beds over at the boundary, in order to best achieve what I want without digging up more grass than I need to. The mulling continues.