P is for Pink Buds of Spring

Well, we nearly had a nice day yesterday, which would have made three [days] in five weeks! But it just couldn't find it in itself to be that little bit warmer.

The blossom is struggling, the wild cherries have been flowering for a few weeks now and some have almost finished, but with few bees or other pollinators flying, there won't be much fruit again this year, the Mirabelle next door lost all it's blossom after a couple of the colder nights...

Frodo has decided that Spring is still 'months' away and has returned to the fireside, where he is clearly in seventh-heaven, only opening an eye occasionally to say, more logs - NOW please!

Before-and-After's

Pretty self-explanatory stuff, but I'm in the job market and it helps to show I can do what I say I can, otherwise you might find some Knight of the Realm lying to a Tribunal that I can't or something, which would surely upset Her Madge? Perish the thought...

Imposing the Human Will on Nature

Rushing around trying to get everything ready before the full onset of spring - and it's attendant bionic-weed problem - has meant the blogs have taken a bit of a back seat recently. however here is a couple of photo's on the 'before-and-after' theme.

This is the top rose bed, wall-climbers interspersed with fruit trees, the boss likes to keep it free of flowering plants (I tried to leave a couple of established flowering weeds in as eye candy - but they came out while I wasn't looking!) but it still needs a bit of a tart-up after the long winter months.

Three hours later, I use a small hand/potting fork, as I like to cover the whole bed without digging up dormant stuff underneath, if you dig a bed like this with a garden fork you can damage roots and bring up opportunistic seeds. You can still get couch-grass out, by following the runners and pulling gently. Finally I edge-up with a tool like an old sheep shearer and flick the soil back from the lawn edge.

Graham - who comes half a day a week to tackle a big job, finishing-off the veg. patch, since this was taken we have got the early spuds, main crop and Onions/Shallots in, as well as planting out the broad-bean seedlings I planted back in Feb.