Lately we have had Rain and Weather with capital letters. Our grass which was a crispy brown that crunched under our feet is now a soft green; the basil, apple cucumber and Tropic tomato plants are zooming ahead; and the ground is so soft that weed pulling is easy.

I am about to give up on the Moneymaker tomatoes – if I was counting on them to make any money, it would not be a happy story. None of the fruit has gotten bigger than golf ball size, and the plants look very unhappy. So I’m going to pull them out. That garden bed has the Moneymaker tomatoes, sunflowers, marigolds, carrots and some basil. I’ll pull it all out except for the marigolds and basil, they can stay for a while longer.

My third garden bed is sitting vacant while I try to work out what’s wrong with it – too much shade now the tree nearby has gotten much bigger? Has the tree’s roots gone into the garden bed? Or is just that I’ve neglected the soil and it needs a break? I’m going to grow some green manure in it and give that time to break down and work, and see if that helps matters.

I’ve also decided to get my herb garden moving – at the moment there’s a Rosemary bush that’s over 30 years old (or so my neighbours tell me) in there, some thick chives, basil, marigolds and a mysterious bush that promises to keep away possums. I think I’ll add parsley and thyme to grow there as well.

Am I missing any herbs that are useful in cooking? I did have lemongrass at one point but it grew so giant that I had to take it out (also the neighbourhood cats liked to nap underneath it. When I googled how to stop cats from hanging out in my garden, the websites said to plant lemongrass. Oh cats, you masters of irony).