The traumatic news of poorly Parsley was the trigger for a green-fingered frenzy on the part of four of the housemates this afternoon.

First up was Jon, who, after wandering aimlessly round the garden for a few minutes, grabbed himself a stool and plonked himself in the vegetable patch.

The data man from Staines proceeded to harvest a hundred baby carrots in contemplative silence, the reason for this not becoming apparent till Ray appeared on the scene.

"I'm thinning them out so the ones that remain have a chance to grow bigger," Jon explained to his befuddled pal. "They've been planted too close together," he added, sounding a little concerned.

"You see that's useless..." he murmured to himself seconds later, on pulling out a particularly bedraggled specimen.

By the time Jon had amassed himself a tidy pile of bright healthy veggies, he was joined in the hazy sunshine by Cameron, Nush and Steph who also seemed keen to lose themselves in a bit of back-to-nature activity.