Domesticity and horticulture

The Lodger has constructed a second raised planter (2 feet by 4), encouraged/bribed/rewarded by the rather nice  lemon and thyme cake I made him. Thyme struggles in my garden for some reason, but the one surviving plant actually had a decent quantity of leaves on it when I checked; and better to use them than lose them to the winter. Tomorrow I shall pick what's left of the herbs that go dormant overwinter and freeze them; there was a hard frost on the ground this morning. The rosemary will survive all winter, and can't be moved in any case as it's planted in the ground, but I have moved the two small bay plants in pots to a more sheltered location as their predecessors (rather larger) succumbed to last winter's cold and snow.

Both planters are now filled with shallot and onion sets to grow over winter and harvest in June (when the summer veg will take their place). I could probably buy both vegetables as cheaply as I can grow them, but it would irk me to leave the planters empty when they can be used, and there must be some virtue in growing them myself, surely.  It will also irk me if the pigeons help themselves, but my fingers are crossed.