I was pleased to have some help digging over the strawberry patch. The hens did a good job in helping to scratch out dead leaves and offshoots. It was so overrun with strawberry runners that I hardly knew where to start - at least that didn't leave much room for weeds!

I guess that I can't go darting off on the motorbike every time the sunshine comes out as this nice weather does bring on the outside chores. I just managed to squeeze an hour in the garden before I needed to clean up and start teaching piano lessons. It's not ideal to teach piano with dirt under your fingernails, but I did the best that I could… It goes against the grain to throw away healthy young plants, but the strawberries had multiplied magnificently since last season. I replanted as many as I could, but I'm afraid that a good tubful went into the garden waste wheelie bin. Short of digging the whole patch and replanting all of the patch this was the best that I could do :