Happy birthday, Compostman!

Ian's 70th birthday today, first sighting of a Swallow here and first Nightingale song heard in our wood.

Memorable day.

Signs of Spring.

 

This has made me feel SO much more cheerful!

Still struggling with the effects of Long Covid (aches, depression, brain fog, shortage of breath and tiredness.) 

Also, the bicep injury is still very painful and I can't do much.

However, look at these! So beautiful!

Things must improve soon, yes? 

A walk in the wood

Those of you who are not familiar with my blog may not realise we are lucky enough to own a 3 acre wood as part of our smallholding.

So, I thought it would be good to take you on a walk with me, into the wood

Walking into the wood, past swathes of wild daffodils.

Over where the badger path crosses ours, and to where they go down and then up the ditch that runs all the way down the middle of the wood, bisecting it from top to bottom

Back up from the bottom of the wood past yet more wild daffodils

Can you see Compost Mansions in the image, above?

Back to the top of the wood looking across to the composting area and the outside raised beds

Some wild daffodils I picked while we were out in the wood

Spring is Sprung

 Spring is Sprung! Today is the Spring Equinox, when the days and nights are of equal length. For now the days will get longer and the nights, shorter.

My first batch of tomato plants are growing very well and I have potted them on once already. They are nearly ready to go into larger, individual pots.

 Some already potted into 3 inch pots.

More tomato and pepper seedlings in the heated propagator - see Creosote the Cockerel in the background? He appears as soon as I go into the porch and stands, watching me - I think he is waiting for food.

Lots of seedlings on the grow in the polytunnel as well - various brassicas, broad beans, onion and leek seeds as well as lots of herbs and salads.

Such a shame that today was horrible weather though - we had rain, hail and sleet this afternoon. Still the nice days are beginning to outnumber the less nice days at last.

Oh and I noticed the grass needs mowing :)

Signs of Spring!

Well the new season finally kicks off :)

Today I saw several Queen Bumblebees and a couple of Butterflies in the garden. The woodpeckers are drumming and yaffling in the wood and the air is full of birdsong. At night I see lots of Newts and Toads getting amorous on the patio and gravel drive :)

Tomato, aubergine and pepper seeds are up in the heated propagators and various salads and brassicas are growing well as are onion and leek seedlings

The potatos are chitting nicely ( lots more out of shot)

and the earliest potaoes are begining to grow in their bags in the polytunnel.

What is the betting it snows, next week?

Spring?

After my last post I must admit I am beginning to feel cautiously optimistic that Spring might be on the way...

The snowdrops and crocii in the front garden are all blooming

 As are the ones in the Wood, and the wild daffodils are beginning to open.

The Bluebell foliage is very much in evidence now and the flower buds are beginning to push up out from the stems.

I also saw my first Queen Bumblebee emerging from hibernation !

I set up my heated propagators in the porch last week and sowed the first of the tomato, pepper and aubergine seeds and they are already growing - lots of seedlings have emerged. I have also sown onion seeds along with lots of brassicas and salads.

The ground is still far too wet underfoot to venture on to the veg garden or walk on the lawns, so I can't do much about digging over flower beds or preparing the soil but at least I feel I have finally got started on the 2014 growing season.

On hearing the first cuckoo in Spring...

Tonight I heard my first cuckoo of 2013, 6 days later than usual, but still, how lovely to hear them again.

There is a beautiful tone poem of this name written by Delius in 1912. You can read a bit more about it here.

And you can listen to it by clicking in the link here

Anyone else heard a cuckoo?

Saturday - wet morning, sunny afternoon in Newent.

Saturday morning here was appallingly wet! This is the view from my Study window - can you make out the "stair rod" type rain?

It also went very dark and very gloomy.

The rain stopped eventually and as the ground was so wet I decided to give up on Plan "A" ( veg patch digging) and go for Plan "B" ( go to Newent with a friend and her children, with Compostgirl)


Which left Compostman to do more DIY, helped by Cassi Cat. Don't worry, he wasn't actually up a ladder while we were out - this was after we came back home!

Newent is a lovely little Market town about 8 miles away from us, much like Ledbury but over the county border into Gloucestershire and with a different mix of small shops and a very lovely park and Lake. We had a look in the Patchwork /Quilting shop  :-) where I bought a few bits and bobs, we went into a couple of "new to us" charity shops - the children all found " finds" in them and then we had an excellent lunch in "The George" a very old Coaching Inn on the High Street. 

After lunch we walked around Newent Lake and it was then I realised - Spring has finally Sprung!  I spotted Daisies and Celendines in the grass, the first Ransoms were out and the green shoots of the Bluebells were cuite clealy there. The Ducks, Coots and Moorhens were all pairing off and nest building  - it was warm and the air smelt of that green, earthy, "alive" smell which is ...SPRING!

We came home and later, when I checked on my Potatoes in the Polytunnel, I found...this!

Can you see the green shoots poking through the compost :-)


Have you seen more signs of spring, where you are?

Imbolc Blessings

Imbolc blessings to you all. May yours and mine seeds be fertile and all our crops and livestock grow in abundance!

I always plant the first of my pepper and tomato seeds today or tomorow, and I make sure to get outside and work in the garden and the polytunnel, regardless of the weather :-)

I also gather a small bunch of snowdrops and bring them inside. These are some of the many patches we have flowering in the garden and the wood. Lovely! \I love snowdrops, so cheerful and make me feel spring will soon be here.

More about the Festival of Imbolc

here

A nice walk in the wood with Cat accompaniment

I promise there WERE signs of spring and it was NOT raining - it was actually rather nice :-)

Tom Cat looking thoughtful

 Cassi Cat as always with me.

 Look! Wild daffodils poking through! :-)