I got my very snazzy glasses last night, which left me running around the house, jumping up and down, squealing in disbelief at the difference they were making to my distance-vision. They make little difference to reading (slightly short-sighted) but being able to see right down to the bottom of the garden (and here's the embarrasing bit) in crystal clarity is simply amazing. I have been getting headaches most days (which is miserable) but now, if I feel one coming on, on go the glasses and it subsides! Wow! I love them already (although I still feel a bit self-conscious).

Today I saw my window of opportunity to get out into the garden and do good things. And good things, I did do. I was so psyched up to do this, it felt excellent - my first 'proper' garden session of the season. I did lots too, and was out for about 3 1/2 hours. My main priority was to get the vegetables planted as soon as possible. April is a good time for most things, the only exceptions being things like sweetcorn and pumpkins which expressly prefer to be sown inside and then slowly acclimatised to the outdoor world for 10-15 days before full planting-out.

The garden went from looking a bit shabby and 'rough around the edges' (which in my book is no bad thing), to looking like this:


[vegetable/plant beds with scarers]

The Swiss Chard, leeks, onions, carrots, and two types of peas, have all been planted. The Swiss chard should be ready to eat in 60 days! This time around I have learnt considerably from my mistakes of last year, when it comes to creature protection (I will not use the word pest, because if you don't protect your crops, it's your own fault they get eaten!) and general planting. I put up bamboo canes with scraps of very cheap cotton curtain-lining material to keep the hungry wood pigeons and collared doves at bay. Not only did these cost pence to make, they are efficient, reliable, chemical-free and not at all harmful to anything. Another great scarer is made by hanging old CDs on string and winding it through the garden. They reflect the light and scare any potential diners off your prized crops.


[planting scheme - note space marked 'nothing as yet' - this will be where either the potatoes or the sweetcorn will eventually go]


[garden from the other side]

It has taken many hours of laborious stone-picking, seiving, raking, turning, forking and love to get the beds into the shape they're in now, and even that's not perfect. But they're on their way! The purple sprouting broccoli is just about to flower profusely, which should mean (hopefully) we'll get at least one meal out of it (and boy it'll be the best broccoli we've ever had, I'm sure!).

I also got the chance to mow the lawn (it looks like a carpet of green perfection) and spend some quality time with the dog who likes to be out in the sun with me whilst I garden. But the best part of the day had to be when I got to sit down at the end of it all, notepad, pen and cup of tea in hand, rose incense sat in a nearby bed, listening to the birdsong and writing. Today my pen floweth, words falling over themselves to be the first onto the page, it was marvellous.

To end the day, a gratuitous squirrel-shot, they weren't around so much when I was gardening (although a certain robin made himself known to me, watching from a nearby branch, singing his syrupy song), but they did appear a little afterwards. Two of them, ploughing through the peanuts, so close were they that I could hear their nails scrabbling up the branches of the tree, and what did I find when I was digging over the veg patch? Peanuts, buried there for safe-keeping, by none other than our favourite little red rodent.