I spent a lovely few hours in the greenhouse last Sunday. There’s something so relaxing about being surrounded by propagators and seedlings.

Light levels have been lower than normal and, because I’m convinced that a limb will soon be blown from my neighbour’s tree, I keep shutting the wooden slatted roof blind, making it even gloomier in the greenhouse. The result is that I’m fighting long, leggy seedlings, which are etiolated because of low light levels. To combat the problem, I’ve laid out some aluminium foil sheets around the plants, in the hope that they will help to reflect light back on the seedlings and improve their chances of growing into healthy plants.

I can never find a decent, slimline dibber, so use a blunt pencil instead. I find this the easiest way of levering each root system out of the soil, with as little damage as possible. Hopefully, with my high-tech tools of aluminium foil and pencil, my seedlings will do well. And how could they not? I nestled each seed into pre-warmed compost and then watered them with greenhouse-temperature water. I just wonder whether the seedlings are aware of the 5-Star accommodation I’ve provided for them. Will they reward me with 5-Star performance?