Progress

( seeds and seedlings )

There have been a total of eleven hits on Chapter 5 of Hertha since uploading it to AO3 on Friday -- or at least on the story as a whole, since AO3 doesn't provide chapter data -- which is depressingly low for a chapter that took me so long to complete typing and editing... but the only moral to be drawn from *that* is that I should get round to typing more quickly, since this is definitely a niche story and viewing figures aren't likely to increase. (Especially if people are really tracking their reading exclusively by tagged favourite 'ship': https://archiveofourown.org/comments/516425749 )

On the other hand, those eleven hits are at least enough to propel it into the "Top Five By Hits" display which is displayed by default on the stats page!

The bicycle has been temporarily patched up -- which involved waiting around for five hours, since the shop in question is five miles away and walking home and then back again really isn't an option unless absolutely unavoidable. But they were quite frank that the wheel is worn out and needs to be replaced altogether. I hope I've sourced a replacement (dated 1973, so even older...)

Greenhouse renewal

It has been hot -- I had to use my six-pint water carrier (a.k.a. a supermarket milk container with convenient built-in handle). I have also been testing out my blinds,although of course the heat isn't nearly so intense at this time of year (the sun takes longer to rise, the rays are less direct, and the temperature falls back overnight).

Embarrassingly, triggered by the heat more magazine-tomatoes have started coming up enthusiastically in the mini-greenhouse, the seeds in question having been in there since February without any activity. Now that I have successful germination in the other varieties I really don't need those at all any more, so I created another six-pack and transplanted them all into it ( Read more... )

I then realised that I had probably buried/accidentally dug up all the basil seed I had planted in there a couple of days ago! So I have planted yet more, since basil is always very hard to germinate anyway. Possibly it will actually benefit from having been forcibly put down deeper and/or turned up -- I suspect that some of the renewed tomato germination might have been a side-effect of my having removed other things from the tray and disturbed the surrounding soil...