Great day – bright blue sky, fresh and airy, it was bliss being out in the garden. The high winds have died down. After more rain, things are happening everywhere. Last week’s lettuce seeds have germinated, the cavalo nero is looking refreshed and plentiful (and de-caterpillared), our tomatoes are starting to turn red and the foxglove in the south platform planter finally has a flower on it!

These are all things that we have been waiting for – well, actually, the germination of the seeds in under a week is rather unexpected, but seeing those tiny green shoots appear is always magical. We’ll need to defend now from the slugs and snails who are back with a vengeance now the soil is moist.

And there are more unexpected things happening. Somewhere (probably from the compost) we’ve ended up with two massive squash plants growing in the far corner of the orchard bed. They are starting to engulf the area where we store canes and some long-handled tools. Maire said last week that most of the flowers look like ‘male’ ones, with long stalks but no fruit: we need some females with little tiny fruits behind the flowers. Will we ever get them, or are these creatures simply rampaging through the plot with little benefit (apart from draping themselves lushly over the raised bed)? Advice from Weekend Gardener suggests that female flowers come after the male. Once we get them, we can encourage pollination.

And we have a return of another unexpected guest: coriander is again growing in the tree pit. We all find this wonderful herb hard to grow, but hey – there it is, in among the lobelia and petunias. I really don’t know where it is coming from. Did we drop coriander seeds here last year? Yet more proof of the serendipity of gardening.

Spot the coriander

Buds finally on foxglove