Man’s best friend: a worm!

I have been thinking about the lowly worm and what a friend it is to a gardener. Without worms my own particular garden would not be as nutrient efficient as it is, because when we first moved here the garden was little more than a building site and the soil was devoid of anything useful to plants. By putting on farmyard manure and letting the worms pull it down into the ground the soil is now much more fertile. And without the worms my compost would certainly not have the friable loam properties that it has. Where there are no worms the soil in my garden is hard and barren! There is no aeration (I hope this is a word!) of the earth and digging in it is a hard and thankless task. What always bothers me though is why worms should congregate under pots, not even in soil but on top of the concrete or paving! Why do they do this? They would be of much more use in the soil!

I have a problem! Why are my cucumbers looking like this? Not all of them but at least two! The leaves dry out on the ends and go yellow and brittle. It happens with the bottom leaves and then progresses upwards. What am I doing wrong? Am I doing anything wrong or is it the weather or something? I don’t know but it is frustrating!

On a happier note my roses are looking lovely. With a little bit of sun and warmth they have burst into bloom and they smell gorgeous! These are climbers but I don’t know what variety they are as I bought them from B & Q and the label just said ‘fragrant rose’.