Ken, Mackie and I put our heads together to come up with a solution to last summer's problem: how to keep the wind and rain from damaging the flowers in my cutting garden. Bamboo stakes and plastic rings were not enough to prevent heavy rain or blustery gales from taking their toll on the blossoms that I planned to use all summer in home and church flower arrangements. The solution: stakes with holes drilled to accomodate a criss-cross of wires to keep stems upright and hoops for fine netting to keep off the heaviest rain.

The plug plants arrived in the post this morning but, alas, the forecast is for temperatures below 0º next week, so I potted the 'hardy' seedlings into 3-inch pots and put them in a cold frame until it is safe to plant them out into their allocated raised beds.