It has been so dry that the garden pond’s water level was several inches below normal, so we filled it again with the hose.  While doing that, I saw a couple of newts and, when LT came along, we spent a happy half hour watching them.  Happy for me, that is, I have a Livingstonesque fervour for newts that I daresay relatively few share.  We went to a nursery with an aquatic centre afterwards and bought plants for the pond, so I trust the newts will approve.  After putting them in the water, I stood and watched one newt feeding on a snail that must have fallen in the pond – it wasn’t a water snail and it was certainly dead.

Today was the tri-annual street fair in Yagnub, the garden one.  LT knew rather better what to expect this time, but we were quite restrained, really.  Stallholders were lovely – when I bought potfuls of leek seedlings (bargains at £1 for at least two dozen seedlings) – I told them how successful they’d been last year.  I said that I’d separated them out and put them, a dozen or so at a time, into much bigger pots and planted them out a few weeks later and they were really pleased.  I’ve done the first part of that, this afternoon.  I’ve nearly finished putting tomato plants into their final pots for the greenhouse, with only two to go, but I’ve run out of compost.  I also have all the aubergines and peppers – it’s too dry in that greenhouse for cucumbers so I grow outdoor ones at present, and there isn’t room for other things I used to grow.  We’ll be putting out beans and sweetcorn soon, I’ll leave squashes and cucumbers until the end of the month.

A lot of weeding to do.  Ho hum.  Sadly, both of us really don’t like weeding.