May arrived and the planting began in earnest. I dragged my weary little crew back and forth to the plot with tray upon tray of seedlings.
The fear of late frosts was everpresent and each morning 15 to 20 seedtrays were trundled outside only to be brought in again before dark!

My darling husband, Wurzel, replaced some of the corrugated iron on the shed with clear, wriggely plastic to let the light in. With the introduction of a child's table and chair, some colouring books etc. our little shed became quite homely. A couple of times, while sitting quietly waiting for a shower to finish, two tiny fox cubs came and played right in front of me. Tis a magical feeling to be so inconspicuous to the wildlife!

Little Flower planted the onion sets and any big seeds such as sqashes and beetroots. We found her a book with which to identify the birds she saw and she has become quite an expert. Not bad for a three year old!
Willow too, got to work. She patiently dug out couch grass roots for hour upon hour (in return for lifts to various clubs and activities.) The plot next to ours became vacant so we took it over and were delighted to find three full rows of strawberry plants and one bush each of gooseberry and blackcurrant.


Gradually, things started to take shape.
Our first beds were already filled with carrots, parsnips, beetroots and onions. Willow planted marigolds round the edge to deter blackfly .....

(well, actually it was because she's terribly girlie and was dismayed by the lack of pretty flowers)

..........and Little Flower delighted in piddling on the compost heap to get it going!