A most productive weekend

All is right with the world.

I have dirt under my nails, a glass of wine in my hand, a cat at my feet and 5kg of Jerusalem artichokes in a bucket on the deck.

I also have a new paved patio, a bag of barley seed to sow, a michelia hedge at the end of my deck, a couple of hundred dead snails marinating in salt water, gravel under my olive grove, a pruned crabapple, two limbed-up kanukas, half a weeded rose garden and four small almonds, each 5mm long, developing on my dwarf 'Garden Prince' almond tree.

I also have a rotten infestation of grass grubs. I sense my organic ambitions are about to become horribly unstuck.

At least the broad beans are fattening up. They'll be ready to eat next week.