The Hellebore sternii is looking beautiful and growing well in this slightly difficult place under the solar panels.

I hurt my back last week – too much digging weeds with the small fork. So I have been planting seeds and transplanting cuttings, and weeding without the small fork – I think it’s just too short for how I use it.

When we arrived there was 90 ml ( about 3.5 inches) showing in the rain gauge, and it must have been torrential. The road on the way down was down to one lane for large portions where there had been slips, and the sand path to the outhouse had been carved away by a stream.

It’s been rainy and windy last night and today, so we have probably had another inch of rain.
The first tomato seeds are planted in flats in the greenhouse – Moonglow and Golden Grape which are saved from the orange tomatoes we grew last year, and Beefsteak Select from seed left over from last year.

The asparagus berries are planted as well, and a few pots full of Little Hats, which is not the right name for this chile, it’s one we have grown for ages and saved the seed. It still looks the same but at some stage I think some of them crossed with habaneros or jalapeños so some are hotter than others. A friend sent me a picture of one which looks the same which they call ‘Bishop’s Crown’, or Capsicum baccatum.

I also dug over a bed which was in tomatoes last year and planted some Alderman peas. The soil was soggy so I made a bit of a raised bed with dryish sandy soil from the greenhouse and a little compost. I’ve used fruit tree prunings for pea sticks, and I think I have finally figured out how to do this – they have to be on an angle so they form a sort of a lattice. Previously I’ve just stuck them in higglety pigglety and the peas have struggled to get a grip on them. It was raining and getting cold so I didn’t get the lime onto them but I did manage to cover them with netting.

A few months ago I took cuttings of Thrift Armeria Bees Ruby. I didn’t know if I should take little cuttings or big ones, so I tried both and they all grew. The big branches have grown more quickly, and the larger pots have grown more quickly. However it seems that even the smallest ones have grown so I transplanted about 30 today.