It rained in a drizzly sort of way for much of the morning. Despite this two loads of washing were done and are drying on the airers - aided by the lighting of the fire since they were sitting there damply for some time. I rashly decided to downgrade to summer pjs before checking the weather forecast, so this may be revised come bedtime as it is to be one degree tonight (time to wrap up those tomato plants once more). I spent some of this afternoon wandering the garden to see what, if anything, had survived the depredations of cat toiletting habits. This, in combination with seeds past their use-by date, has resulted in one butter bean plant, three sugar snap peas (irregularly distributed across the bed) and one beetroot (which will become a salad plant instead of a root plant since it is so solitary. The broad beans seems to be doing rather better though, so at least something is growing. Also, the fresh broccolini seeds are up and racing as is whatever it is I planted in the other row alongside them (parsnips, perhaps?).

More encouragingly, of the four grape sticks that produced leaves but no roots, two survived the last frost in their pots and one has produced two bunches of grapes. Needless to say this is futile as they will be pinched out now I have the photo, but a good start and they will be coming indoors soon given the forecast (just as soon as I go out to tuck up the tomatoes).

In case you are having trouble spotting them, they are at the base of the left hand leaf, and another just to the right of the white patch which is the back side of another new leaf!!

The kentish cherry is in blossom and the medlar is about to bloom while the apples are starting to progressively bloom from the bottom of the orchard up toward the top. The crab apples are in bud as well, so a good start to the season: time will tell how it ends.

Tomorrow being Show Day, the Sorell Market has been brought forward. So I will be heading down there with a view to collecting whatever plants and seedlings I can afford to fill the gaps in the garden. I also have four packets of seeds (bush green beans, two different varieties of carrot and some lettuce medley) which I can pop in once I cut some mesh to protect the soil. Meantime it is all weeded and turned over in anticipation. Some horse poo will be buried under the celery plants I hope to get tomorrow, or failing that, at our Open Day.

Progress is happening two steps forward, one backward on that one, and meantime Aurora has exceeded expectations and rolled into action on the matter of the Hall power bills. They are sending me a letter that I can in turn deliver to the present committee. Fingers crossed there is someone on the committee capable of reading it and responding appropriately.