Early start today. A sunny morning, the wind has dropped and I'm rewarded with a squirrel and young blackbirds ambling up the lane in front of me. The ground is damp from all the rain yesterday and maybe the cold start this morning. I'm hoping to plant a couple of spring violas (already flowering) and a self-seeded honeysuckle beside the wooden fence. 

Emptied the compost, picked up the apples (not as many now, more staying on the branch) then got the seat and coffee and sat under the apple tree. A tiny parasol mushroom peeping out of the grass (Pleated Inkcap (Parasola plicatilis) so looked for more - only one other, next to the boarder of the ericaceous bed.

       

Cut some leylandii to mulch this bed. Will do more next time.

Used the spring tyne rake to clear some thatch, to add brown to the compost. 

Some deadheading, yellow roses still looking good and the other bush may produce more buds. Meanwhile it adds autumnal colours to the plot with leaves touched with red, while yellow comes from several flowers. In the distance (just outside the allotments area), the tall trees are yellow-leaved.

After planting the flowers, the local robin having followed me, dodged back to find a meal in the upturned soil.

Wasp nest still active, not so many bees around and those small. One honey bee and a single red admiral, lots of white butterflies, but then there are lots of brassicas on the nearby plots. 

The old wheelbarrow is in the proto-pond and has some water in it.

As I sat enjoying my second coffee, the eye spots jobs for next time. Move a red currant from under the apple tree to this fruit bed by the shed.

It is mostly raspberries (summer and autumn), then strawberries but also a red currant bush.

Get some 6X (which is concentrated manure) and bags of compost so beds can be prepared for winter. Perhaps some will grow green manure or have autumn planted broad beans, who knows.

And the hedge really needs trimming and the tops reducing.

All we need is the weather.