The atmosphere is at fever pitch ahead of this evenings final. Yes it’s Finland against Brunei in the finale of the 26-day World Tiddleywinks tournament in Scunthorpe, and you can’t get a seat for love nor money. Expectations are high that Finnish ace marksman Hari Kannonen will re-find his form after a distinctly average competition thus far – when the going gets tough… In other news, I believe that there is a football match on tonight.

My right hand is not a thing of beauty. It is a gnarly deformed thing with a claw-like little digit, courtesy of my Dupuytren’s contracture, and a bent middle finger that has worsened over the years following an accident with a meat hook when I was a teenager. Anyway, that hand is ugly, and a bit of an embarrassment, whereas my left hand is straight, delicate and perfectly formed. Well it was until late Friday afternoon. It was very unfortunate really, I was just about finished in my preparations for the following day’s farmers’ market when I decided that I would bunch some fennel foliage to give to John the fishmonger to decorate his display. I was snipping away in haste, because I was under time pressure to meet my pals for my weekly hour long Friday evening visit to the pub. In that haste I grabbed a bunch of stems and trimmed them to the required length, and instantly realised that a piece off the top of my left ring finger had gone the same way as the discarded stalks! In fact it hadn’t, because I later found it on the blade of my secateurs! After washing the wound I dried it and used a surgical wipe to further clean it, and then bound it the best I could with bandage secured with sticking plasters. On arriving home the dressing was changed with some assistance, but not before being reprimanded for not going to A&E immediately the accident happened.

As the morning at the market proceeded I convinced myself that I really should get it seen to, you know, potential infection and all that, so I detoured to the hospital on my way home. After being triaged I was seen by a nurse practitioner who cleaned it up, applied a seaweed dressing (who knew?) to it and covered it with a neat stocking bandage. That is to stay on until Tuesday, I can then just protect the injury with regular plasters. So my perfectly formed left hand now has a ring finger that is no longer rounded, it has a 45° angle to it. The nurse said that it would probably not show after a few weeks, but I am not convinced. At least it’s not the finger that unlocks my phone. That reminds me, I must dispose of the piece of finger that I popped in a poly bag for some strange reason. I do hope that you didn’t read this gory tale while having your tea.

The weather continues to play silly beggars with us. Last week was mostly grey and miserable, and stupidly chilly for July. In the coming week at least the temperature is forecast to recover to levels closer to the average. It’s sunshine that I am craving, I have dozens of tomato plants laden with fruit that is stubbornly refusing to ripen. I did mange to pick enough for last week’s orders, but the gloomy overhead conditions have prompted them to go into a huff, folding their arms and refusing to change colour until things improve. Once again I am hoping that enough will cooperate so that I can add them to your boxes.

Weeds are now rampant. The permanently damp soil makes hoeing difficult, with the hoe blade constantly clogging up. Tomorrow is weed slaying day, provided it doesn’t rain overnight. I’ve also got a fair bit of planting to do, with more lettuce, and Romanesco cauliflowers plants as the top priority. I hope that fingergate doesn’t hamper me too much. If it does I’ve got lots of grass to cut.

There will be broad beans again this week. They are getting a bit more starchy now, but if you can be bothered to blanch them for a few seconds before popping them out of the outer ‘skin’ they are still absolutely delicious. We are probably only a couple of weeks away from runner beans. Kohlrabi and Florence fennel are still in the shop, and having rested it for a while I will be picking cavolo nero. There are still round cabbages. Lettuces this week are Little Gem. I am hoping that the new potatoes will be cleaner this time round, they were pretty muddy when I dug them for last week’s orders. Less successful are my courgettes. I have a nocturnal visitor that is eating every fruit when it gets to a certain size. The prime suspect is a Muntjac deer, so I need to survey the fence and determine its point of entry before securing it.

I think I’m going to leave it at that, because I’ve got to go back to the garden to close up the greenhouse before the match, so time is against me. I had a truncated day because this afternoon we went to see grandson Hector playing the lead in Shrek the musical at a lovely little theatre in Newmarket. The show was a hoot, with some terrific performances by the young cast.

Have a splendid week. And don’t worry, the secateurs have been thoroughly sterilised.

Phil