I’ve been planting out vegetables and planning ahead. That’s the good thing about gardening, you’re in the moment but you’re also looking forward.

Rose has three broody bantams at present. Scrabble and Polly have been cuddled up together for the last couple of weeks in her conservatory. She says they can’t be relied on, however, so there’s no point in actually having eggs under them. Canasta, she thinks, would be a reliable mother so, now she’s found out where she’s sitting, the situation is being monitored. We don’t really need more chickens but i have a sentimental wish not to let our lovely bantams die out, so I’d quite like to have two or three more, to keep them going. I know that I’m a fool. I’ll harden my heart one of these days and stop being so sentimental, but that’s got its disadvantages too, so I’ll let myself be tender for a bit longer.

I’m not sure what I’ve said about hedgehogs recently. The one I found on a frosty afternoon was returned here a few weeks ago, but Tessa brought another one three weeks ago. I put down food every evening, though I haven’t seen them – but I don’t usually go out at the sort of time they’d probably be eating it. A couple of nights ago, I went to feed the barn cats and chucked some GoKat in the dish, just as a hedgehog was approaching. I don’t know if it was Timhedgehog or Lucky, it was about the size but well away from where I’ve been putting down food, but it ran away. So I put down food there too now. We’re mugs, basically. Quite possibly, all we’re feeding are the local rat population. There was a big slug that came regularly to the cats’ food dish, but I haven’t seen it for a while, so perhaps a hedgehog found that and ate it. I’ll be slightly sorry if so, as it had become a pet too, but you can’t be overly sentimental about a slug.