The Flower Man took a look at my garden plot today and advised me I’d inadvertently turned it into a sponge and this explained why things were not growing as they should, slugs were aplenty and my leaves yellow.

Seemingly the early season disaster with my excess addition of peat was the root of the problem. He pointed this out to me, by plucking the soil and squeezing the water out of it.

I love to get gardening tips. He told me to add some potting soil or a layer of something to dry it out a bit or to hope for a few days heat so it might bake. He also told me he’d been gardening for 25 years and had learnt from his mistakes. His plot looks magnificent but he cited the planting of some kind of lily in the middle as a faux pas. Another gardener gave me the most peculiar bean to try, it is a very long, pointy shape and is flavoured like a radish.