Yesterday was teaching swimming day,which I combined with planting my tree, which was supposed to be my leaving present. This is the third time I have tried, but the previous two attempts have resulted in two dead rowans. The site had been occupied by Japanese knotweed, treated with herbicide, which should have been cleared some years ago.

The previous times the caretaker had dug the hole and planted the trees, despite, last time, my asking him to wait for me to bring some compost for the hole.

This time, I got in first. I dug a hole down through what looked like good soil to a layer of gravel. Then I poured in two buckets of water to flush it through - and found that it didn't drain, which is odd with gravel, but the pebbles are very close. (I've just wondered if it's actually concrete down there, but that shouldn't be the problem, as rowan grows in very little soil on rock on mountains.) I sank a cardboard box in the hole, and put bought topsoil in it - I'd heard this trick on the radio, for dealing with replanting roses in the same place - and then sprinkled the hole with Rootgrow, a mycorhizzal spore product, which should help the tree get established. Then I put the tree in. It's only a couple of years old this time, with no side branches yet, and I got it at a low price from the London Wildlife Trust garden. I staked it, and put a decorative plastic fence from Lidl round it, to keep the children from it, hopefully.

I had to buy new topsoil, and though I only needed one bag, I bought four, as they were on offer for 4 for 3, and I want to build up a couple of beds in my own garden. So I've been lugging heavy bags around, which I feel SHOULD have had a positive effect on my weight (well, I suppose, negative) but it hasn't. Bah.

Penny