The frogs have restarted their evening percussive tunes in our backyard pond and the snow drops are blooming. The jonquils are even more numerous. The sun is higher in the sky and the garden is getting more light. We peeked under the fleece in our sunniest corner to discover that our experiment would have worked if we had been vigilant about slugs – next year! But my gosh is it muddy!

The second half of July was rainy, with over 40mm in the last week alone. Our paths are a network of puddles of varying depths because we didn’t have enough wood chips to top up all the paths. But it does make the contours of the land quite clear! Next winter we will dig at least one French drain (probably without understanding what makes them French). In the meantime Christie has been looking for permaculture-recommended alternatives. So far the ideas are broadforking to open up the clay a bit (though we only have a pitchfork) and growing crops like daikon radish and sunflowers that theoretically penetrate the clay (though that is difficult to imagine). Alex is dubious. An upside of the mud is that it is extraordinarily easy to pull out the thistles that are reappearing in the paddock!

Procrastination, partly due to weather, has been forcing prioritisation as time passes and winter’s to-do list remains unticked. Christie had been nervous about pruning the fruit trees but with reminders via various websites and emails, she eventually got to it in some rain-free windows. The shed clean up began after we discovered – to our horror – that rats had been feasting on blood and bone after chewing through the bags! The 2021-22 crop plan and seed orders are still not done but time is passing so selective sowing has started, with peas, more broad beans, various greens, loads of lettuce, and most importantly, 11 varieties of tomatoes. There are some flowers also in the mix. Christie finally sorted through the last of the garlic cloves that were hanging about. They stored pretty well in the main shed but some had still begun sprouting. The unsprouted cloves have been minced and frozen or pickled. The others are planted – it’s too late to grow them to full size but the internet suggests they will be good for green garlic (to eat like spring onions). Let’s see!