Just as the ground was drying up enough to get out and work, the rain is back with a vengeance and with it, the weeds have been on the march again. The gravel garden around the house is full of them. The lavender and osteospurmum has self-seeded. It is truly amazing to me how seeds can germinate in what is chalky-dust under the gravel. And how abundant are the weeds we don't want. Daytime temperatures are going up so other plants are burgeoning as well. It's an exciting and demanding time.

The Michele tree mentioned earlier is definitely a myoporum laetum (also known as the ngaio tree) and it was in Heidi Gildermeister's book. Because it roots and spreads so quickly, some people see it as invasive but we are pleased to have about 10 cuttings on the go to plant out eventually as a cordon against the poniente wind.

Thanks to Colin in mediterraneangardening.blogspot for his tip to visit blog-directory.gardening tips. It's a young site, based in Australia and the webmaster is a keen veg grower. There is a delightful woman subscriber in India, sharing her gardening thoughts and pictures, who has just started blogging.

D. has a new pot which will have a simple bamboo design on it. It's intended for the pergola area and we're looking for a suitable sculpture to sit on top of it. He will also start a new pot for a friend. It's a bigger version of his cube pot with a mosaic of her cat on it. I think this will be tricky - how on earth do you do whiskers? Donna, a mosaicist blogger in the USA used a ring saw to do a mermaid's hair very effectively. They are not available here and would cost a fortune to import.