This time of year always reminds me of writing the opening pages of Rootbound, Rewilding a Life, my first narrative non-fiction book. Its events take place over the course of a year - both horticulturally, and as I attempt to pick up the pieces of myself after an unexpected break-up that leaves me without a home - and it runs in 12 chapters from June to May. I didn’t really know how else to structure a book when I wrote it, but it means that in some months I am pulled back to the moments that inspired it. Early June, a time of fizz, disappointing bluster and long twilights, is among them.

At other times I am hoiked back to the events of the book, which took place in real terms seven years ago. On Tuesday C and I ended up on Southbank somewhat spontaneously, and I carried him up the yellow staircase leading that curls around Queen Elizabeth Hall. There, there is a roof garden - the best in the city, in my opinion. It’s rarely busy, the planting is the stuff of gardeners, rather than interior designers (as so many of London’s bars are) and you can see the life of the river unfold below you. It’s grown up a lot since 2016, and it’s grown beautiful too. This is where the final scene of Rootbound unfolds. It was impossible for me to sit there and not also partially inhabit the body I was then.

Speaking of books, Why Women Grow is available on Kindle for £4.89 during June, which is not a great deal more than a birthday card in this economic climate. Why not treat yourself, or a friend? It’s nice to read about gardens as we swing into summer.

Other good things from the past week or so:...