Bumblebees, it appears, come in many shapes, sizes and colours.

By now, I was hoping to be able to sound very knowledgeable about them, but, alas, I am becoming more and more confused. Maggie, being a bee keeper, points out the differences between honey bees, solitary bees, leaf cutter bees and bumble bees as we sit on the walkway outside the eco-cabin during that fabulous Easter weather. One unidentified bee hovers over a flower, an extended proboscis giving it the appearance of a tiny humming bird. The one thing that bumbles seem to have in common is their fuzziness. They’re cuddlier looking, says Maggie, but I can’t quite see myself cuddling one.

When I dug out the ground for the eco-cabin, I used the displaced earth to make the hill in front of us, and as I came across bulbs, I simply threw them in there to take their chance. Now, this walkway is a wonderful place to sit in the morning sun, admiring the profusion of flowers. And it is surprising how subtly the palette has organised itself. Early in the season, it was just the odd purple crocus. Then, yellow crocus flowers came, which slowly gave way to yellow primroses and daffodils. As I write, the palette is blue: forget-me-nots are strewn in profusion, interspersed with grape hyacinths. But here and there, the pink of the tiny flower and the red stem of the delicate wild geranium Herb Robert are appearing, so it will be interesting to see what the next overall colour will be.

Seventeenth-century astrologer-physician Nicholas Culpepper championed all geraniums as vulneraries (wound-healers) but this particular variety, he believed, was especially useful. If you decide against having it in your patch, it is very easy to pull out, so I’m not sure why certain websites offer advice on weed killers you can use for its eradication. I should ignore them. The recent change in council recycling collections led to a surfeit of the old recycling boxes, and I collected a number to use as containers.

As an experiment, and because so much compost was beyond my resources, I have simply half-filled some with mixed leaves, grass and half-done compost from the compost heap and planted potatoes in them. I’ll let you know how they do. And if you’d like to try something similar, I have spare boxes, so get in touch!