I aimed to do the remaining half of the strimming, but I was into much longer grass, so it was much more work. Two paths remain to be done. A lot had to be cut with the shears first, scraped up and then came the strimming and raking. Some of the grass roots are really matted and I need to do some Stanley knife cutting of the high edges where I can. Some big boot stomping will help bring them down too. The ground feels quite uneven at the moment.

The miniature tulips are coming up, and the daffodils in Bed 3 are just starting to bloom.

I’ve been accompanied by a small friend under the plastic the past few times. It runs about under the plastic and I hadn’t seen it until today. It’s the field vole, who ran off among the long grass when I first got there. Then it was back under the plastic, running about. I lifted the side of Bed 9 and it doesn’t smell great under there.

New shoots are coming up on the pickerel weed in the pond. The flag iris is also coming back to life.