Sunshine at last and already the first signs of spring are appearing. Some of the heathers are starting to bloom; they haven't minded the blasting they got over the past two months. I wonder how many other plants would have survived that in their exposed position.
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| Heather slope and blue sky |
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| Filling in nicely |
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| And the first of the daffs |
The dry weather has meant we've been able to start prepping the garden. I've pruned all the apple trees, hazels and fruit bushes and carted some fresh compost to the vegetable beds for Jim to dig in. Jim, meanwhile, has repaired some of the veg beds so that they are all ready to receive now. The rhubarb has got a cordon of manure, which our farmer neighbour had left for us last winter.
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| Rhubarb in a bed of manure |
The pond has been dredged just in time for the first frog spawn to be deposited.
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| Wildlife pond |
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| Go, froggers, go |
In the veg garden there is not much to see as most of the crops are underground (parsnips, jerusalem artichokes) or severely depleted (only the medium sized leeks and celeriacs remain), but the purple sprouting broccoli is providing some colour.
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| One of the prettiest veg? |
We've started to put up extra windbreak fabric for the new hedges. Very cheerful the bright green fabric! I'll have to order another hundred metres of it. It makes an incredible difference to the hedge and veg growth rate.
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| Short wind break to protect the apple orchard |
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| Windbreak fabric everywhere and we're not even finished! |
The hedges are next - after the shower room is finished, which should be the last of this winter's DIY (we hope). Tomorrow the new wind breaks are going to get their first test when gusts of 60mph from the south are forecast.
