The stupid potato patch has landed

Finally, I'm done with the stupid potato patch. There better be some darn fine potatoes coming out of that thing. I'm in two minds about carrying on further towards the shed. The soil is getting thinner and it's very shady, so probably not that productive. I'll need a small patch for my Jerusalem artichokes, whenever they arrive, and one for one lot of sweetcorn, since I don't want the Red Strawberry cross pollinating with the Applause F1, but I'll probably leave it at that for this year. Looking at my patch, I'm pretty proud of what I've achieved. Before and after photos to follow.

At the moment I'm back down at the other end, clearing the last of the nettles from under the apple tree. I was going to sow the whole area with wild flower seeds, but I think I'll use part of it for courgettes or squash. I need to be careful - there are a lot of budding leaves, and it's very easy to knock them off. The birds have cut back on the amount of seed they're eating, although they're still pecking away at the fat balls.

There's lots of space between the fruit bushes too, and they won't grow that big this year, so I may use that space for salad crops and suchlike. There's so much stuff I need to get started, at least now the digging is mostly done.

An awkward social situation - my fat, bald, basement dwelling neighbour (not the sleazy one) asked me out for a drink. Caught on the hop and doped up on painkillers I said yes, and immediately regretted it, even though I need to keep the guy on side for repairs (he's the broke one who's always pleading poverty). I'm the sort of person who frets endlessly over stuff like this, and over the last couple of days I've played all sorts of conversations with him over in my mind - should I invent an imaginary boyfriend, should he perhaps be a Royal Marine judo expert, should I pretend I'm a lesbian or a nun... In the end, after a marathon digging session which helped me to develop a bit of perspective on the situation, I knocked on the door and told him I'd have to cancel because it wasn't convenient and maybe we should grab a coffee in town sometime after Easter. Depressingly, he almost seemed relieved. I've got to move house soon...