This week I had the roof re-covered with a thicker felt on Wednesday, and yesterday the solar panels added, on very thick heavy rubber wedges. This was in very dramatic high winds with strong gusts. I did say I wasn't happy for the guys to be up there, but they were keen to try, so it's been done.

Today I have run TWO washes in day time, the sun shining brightly! Unfortunately, someone had a barbecue, so I couldn't dry the stuff outside.I prefer to have that fresh clean scent, not marinated beef, on my sheets.

On Monday I spread the nematodes about, and today I completed the lasagna bed and topped up the raised bed. It's a bit late, but I've put out runner bean and pea seeds on the lasagna, courgette and butternut squash plants in the raised bed, with lettuce, spring onion and radish seeds to come along before the other two sprawl about. A lot of carrying bags of compost and top soil about. I gave up on mattocking the flinty soil, fertile though it is, and have just put a top layer of humus rich materials on top. Hopefully the worms will get it all mixed up.

For the slugs which escape the nematodes, I have brine in a spray bottle.

I bought a new bay tree to replace the one which suffered from the winter, and some scented dianthus for my summer flower bed. Some of the dianthus were not scented. I don't know why this is considered OK. And the "Sweet" Williams sold in supermarkets are in breach of the trades description act, being without scent.

Back in the 20s, it was considered notable that one year the musk all over th ecountry lost its scent, never to be recovered. Now it's accepted as normal. (BTW, anybody live where the original musk is found in Rocky Mountain meadows? Presumably back at home it's still scented?)

Penny