Our vegetable beds in the garden are coming along fairly well, as are our crops on the allotment, despite the tender attentions of the slugs. It seems that I have a bit of a heavy sowing hand, so I've been having to thin out our radishes and rocket a bit. Now, I don't like good potential food going to waste, and I'm itching to actually eat something we've grown, so I carefully collected the thinned seedlings, washed them and removed the roots. Then -- with some ceremony -- I shared the tiny rocket seedlings with Mr. Bsag. If the full sized leaves taste anything like the seedlings, they'll be wonderful -- hot, and peppery and fresh.

This afternoon, I spread well-rotted farmyard manure/spent mushroom compost on the remaining beds to open up our rather heavy clay, and also spread a mulch on the paths between the beds. Keen to try something a bit different, we've got some cocoa shells to use as a mulch. It's a by-product of chocolate production, apparently deters slugs (yay!) and provides nutrients to the soil as it breaks down. It also smells gloriously of dark chocolate, so I've been alternately raking and sniffing my cocoa shells, then sitting in the sun enjoying the scent of warm chocolate wafting up. Now I really want some chocolate cake. Those veggies had better get to a properly edible size soon, or the mulch-induced chocolate craving will undo my healthy eating regime.