The yo-yo season continues. April showers and some very warm days have at last awoken plants from a long winter dormancy. One of my crucial jobs is to support all the larger perennials, with home-made chicken wire cages, which we have made into three different sizes. These work really well. Before supporting, a lot of the more rampant plants have been divided, with just the best bits being kept.

The pond is also coming to life. Water lily, aponogeton with its elongated leaves and white flowers, bulrushes (miniature), and the gorgeous blue and white iris, are all showing new growth.

It is just a matter of time before the dreaded blanket weed makes an appearance, choking everything in its path. To combat this I use barley straw. It takes a while to get going, but works quite well, and lasts for about six months. We use three small netted bales. I left Geoff to do the maths!

The runner bean plants are a few inches tall. These were soaked overnight in mid- April, and then put, with a few handfuls of damp, multi purpose soil, in a small clear bag which I hung up in a frost free greenhouse (because there was no room on the benches!). As they sprouted, I moved them into troughs, and will put them into the ground once frost is no longer a threat. I will make several sowings as the fox usually digs quite a few out.

The grass has had another good raking, been cut a few times, and fed. I prefer to use a liquid feed that is attached to a hose. With the edges trimmed, the garden is starting to look good at last!