>The wind is blowing down the hill and has already blown one of the brassica cages away. On my daily watering visit I was able to capture it, make a few repairs and reposition it. The crows had not managed to get at the cabbages and the wind kept he butterflies away so no damage done.

We have not had any rain since last Thursday and I really need to water every day. The potatoes on plot 20A are in leaf, the runner beans, on 20 B are finally running up the canes, the shallots and onions are showing leaf. Some carrots seeds and rainbow chard is sprouting as is the mixed leaf salad. Other plants are coming on but slowly. Again it is cold around 18C so I imagine slow growth. However the thistles and comfry are sprouting everywhere as fast as I can hoe or dig them up. Homebase has run out of canes which I need for the french beans and the tomato plants both of which are rather windblown.