Now that's what I call a Bank Holiday! The weather was fantastic and we got masses done at the allotment. I now have a new condition - gardeners' burn! My lower back has a strip of sunburn where my t-shirt didn't quite meet the waistband of my jeans. My face is quite untouched by the sun as it spent most of the day facing the ground, but my back quite clearly was facing sunward for quite some time.

As I said we did masses. I continued the great bindweed war with some successes and the tame photographer has taken to destroying the marestail -both are long-term jobs, but only by constant vigilence will they be kept at bay.

Other jobs included weeding, watering and planting out some cabbages, brussels sprouts and kohl rabi (all bought at the garden centre) and re-seeding where germination has been poor. We also succumbed to slug pellets as finding your veg gobbled up is a bit soul destroying. I also planted a sage bush - my first herb. The next will be a rosemary and some chives and maybe a couple of thyme plants.The great coffee grounds experiment is at an end. All the plants where we had spread coffee grounds have completely disappeared. There appears to be no sign of slug damage - we think the coffee in some way killed the plants. Gardeners World should have warned us.The other major task was creating a bed on top of the manure heap for two courgette plants. The seem very happily esconced up there and we hope for a large harvest.Youngest daughter accompanied us to the plot on Monday - a rare treat for us. She took up residence under an apple tree while she tried to revise. She did also help by watering the plants.

No photos yet - they will be posted as soon as they arrive. (Three weeks later they are now up!)