20mm plus of rain

Rather a lot of rain in last 24 hours (over 20 mm in rain gauge) but it did give us the opportunity to try the linked water butts behind the new shed. The first one finally got filled to the top and we discovered the down pipe diverter and the linking pipe to butt 2 was not lined up properly!  A lot of fiddling about, lowering the second butt's base and moving the pipes before the next shower successfully put some water into the second butt.  What should have been a simple job has taken up  a lot of time.

Seedlings coming along well in greenhouse and poly tunnel  but with very low temperatures forecast we covered the some with fleece and checked the green house heater was on stand by.
Hopefully we will get some more consistent temperatures soon.

I love these new tulips and some of the wall flowers have matched them beautifully, We may try to do all this colour next year rather than have a mixed collection of wall flowers and odd tulips. It would be very striking.

Cowslips beginning to appear in the grass around the fruit trees. Some good early blossom especially on the damsons we planted last year.

Today has been sunny and dry all day and we wandered around enjoying the day doing this and that. But it is Sunday and inevitably the neighbour lit a bonfire. He did wait till after 3 pm for once and the black smoke is going towards his own house this time - some improvement for us! As he does not have new windows nor has a building firm camped on his doorstep doing a large kitchen conversion;we are yet again suspicious of where the wood frames have come from.  My revenge is taking a lot of old OSB up to our bonfire - but we will wait till the wind comes from the south and the smoke will go out over the cereal fields.  I hope this is my last whine on this subject!


Like other Frugal bloggers I am amazed by the media suggestion people have Dolmino branded goods more than once a week. I think I have said it before the British public seems to have lost the idea of a "treat".  That kind of meal should be something special - its is expensive and full of additives, colouring and sugar etc. So I personally would treat it as something special you have on a holiday or in an emergency - about once every 6 months in this house! I am putting on my list of things to do in 2016 to make more sauces during the tomato glut in the summer. Last year I diced a lot up and froze them but still had to cook a dish, so this year I am going to make big batches of sauce when I harvest instead - ready for those emergencies! To that end I found some Basil seeds and sowed them this afternoon to add to my sauces later. My husband decided to risk some early tomatoes in the poly tunnel and planted a half dozen out protected by some fleece. there are plenty more plants safe in the greenhouse for later in the season.