The weather was squally – rough winds did shake the darling buds, in fact. But we got a fair amount done. I gave the grass its first cut, and got the basic seeds in. Some random potatoes have appeared – I earthed them all over, remembering last year’s alarming May frost. It remains to plant the seeds which should only be put in when-all-danger-of-frost is past. There is no such date in Strathardle; I usually declare it to be May 15.

I am enchanted with the concept of Square Foot Gardening. The very day we left last week, I got the new issue of Kitchen Garden – and found an article about it. My primitive attempt is fully sown – I’ll spare you a map of the contents, at least for the time being. I have, as always, bought more seed than I have room for – so, it’s not just yarn. This was a good way of giving each at least a square foot of trial.

I am already looking forward to building myself a better, second raised bed this autumn, in which I will apply the Lasagna Gardening principles.

This is really my kind of gardening, where I can kneel or sit on the ground and attend to things without worrying about what I’m kneeling or sitting on.

Further reports to follow.

And, knitting…

The gansey progresses. It seems to be turning out that I will get down to the wanted number of end-of-sleeve stitches, namely 60, before I get to the end of the sleeve. That’s the trouble, I find, with swatching or with arithmetic or perhaps it’s the two in combination. The plan is to reduce to 48 stitches all at once at the cuff, for a slightly bloused effect. The only thing to do is to keep on remorselessly knitting on 60 until the length is right. I should finish this sleeve the next time we go north.

“Finishing” of any Kirkmichael project is done here in Edinburgh, and I have decided that in this case, the wrist ribbing will be classified as “finishing”. So I’ll put the stitches on some waste yarn and cast on the second shoulder strap at once.

Meanwhile, here in the big city, Sam the Ram has turned up – with no duty to pay! He looks challenging, to put it mildly. He’s obviously a Scottish Blackface, appropriately enough.

And The Yarn Yard May offering is also here, as hoped. And it’s wonderful, as usual. Don’t trust those colours on the screen. The real ones are even better.

Having a quick look at the Yarn Yard site just now, I find there’s a new yarn called “Glasgow tenement.” Again, can I resist? Our first house was a Glasgow tenement, much as the National Trust describes it, in the link the Yarn Yard provides. Alexander, James and Helen were born on the premises – the boys, before we even had a telephone of our own.

Thanks, as ever, for all the comments last time. There are several I want to reply to, but I think that’s enough for today.