(Today, I am 40. Unthinkably old. Probably over half way, although I'm aiming for just a third, by cunningly consuming lots of kale, and ...errm, that's all. This new blog is an attempt to conflate my ((previously seperately recorded)) interest in growing food, living to be 120, an increasingly bizarre world view and parenting. Because, of course, they're all part and parcel of the same thing).

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Happy birthday to me.

Very wet. Snails feasting, even on my kale. A very wet mid-may watershed - the last of the solanums, winter brassicas, leeks, have, at least, germinated. All potatoes should be in (they're not). The greenhouse tomatoes are in their final positions in the greenhouse borders, the peppers and aubergines will only be potted on one more time...

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The first real 2007 harvest: dribs and drabs of radishes, and small new potatoes from the greenhouse sacks, and three big red - but not very sweet - strawberries. The jerky transition from maniacal sowing to tending and harvesting has occurred. Most things sown from now on will follow something already sown this year.

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Lessons learnt so far this year:

1. don't sow outdoor tomatoes until March, don't even think about planting them out until late May;

2. planting courgettes in old car tyres really does work;

3. sowing sweetcorn in April really doesn't work, unless it's into big pots.

4. I NEED TO MAKE MORE COMPOST!

On this last point I'm trying a number of strategies, all to achieve the ultimate goal of not stealing fertility from elsewhere. The weeds I composted in bin liners two years ago - including bindweed - has made the best compost I've ever created. I now have eight huge sacks of weeds following suit, fermenting nicely with home produced urine. There's a kind of saintly zeal attached to pissing in a milk carton. Not satisfied with this liquid contribution, I've bought one of these. Soon I'll be ecologically sound and completely uncivilised. Win, Win.

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I will not, however, confuse any of this with the smallest notion of saving the planet - especially after visiting Chris Jordan's web place. Excuse me while I pack for the three horsemen...