Lush

That's the only way to describe the week's growth. When I left for Scotland last Tuesday there were clear signs of spring - blossom and buds, garlic and peas, daffs and tulips springing into life after the winter dormancy.

After a week 'up north' I came back to a plot that was bursting with life. All the trees had leaves and/or blossom, weeds had shot up (including the dreaded bind weed) and my leeks and garlic had doubled in size. The seedlings in the greenhouse had turned into plants and the grass needed mowing. Ornamental alluims in the perennial bed have appeared and my grapevines that I was sure had died have little buds the length of them. How can one week make such a difference? Even the street trees and hedges along my short drive to the allotment had burst into life: pink white and green everywhere. Amazing. I say it every year but it is still unbelievable!

So what did I do? The plan was to sit in the greenhouse, drink tea and pot on my seedlings (I was expecting rain). I managed that but it took an age (Italian Pimenello plum tomatoes anyone? I have 27 plants!). I admired my self-watering system that lasted the whole week (capillary matting, drip watering bag and a soak-up-able reservoir) and extended it to the full length of the staging; I drank tea and ate a penguin biscuit; cut grass and weeded a couple of beds (fresh greenstuff for the compost - hurray!); re-seeded the bit of lawn that I killed when making my deck; harvested veg; oversaw the removal of my original rhubarb (I remain to be convinced that it's gone, I've tried this before!) and removed the protective coverings from the peas, onions and carrots/parsnips. I also planted out some of the herbs I'd overwintered in the greenhouse into the new bed by the deck.

My planned one hour visit turned into four hours as so often happens and I only tore myself away because I had other things to do.