It’s tomorrow. It’s the big day. The propagator will be cranked into life (well I will plug it in), module trays will be filled with some of the organic compost that was delivered last week, and I will peel open the gummed brown envelopes containing the precious seeds that will bring forth life and hopefully abundance in the months to come. It won’t be across the board, I will start with tomatoes and peppers because they require a much longer period to get to maturity than most other crops. More general seed sowing will commence at full throttle at the end of the month. The onions that I sowed early last month germinated very well and are growing away on the greenhouse staging. It’s a time of great optimism and excitement in my little world.
The saga of the Beech hedge continues. I have now completed about 40 metres of it and will carry on this week. I really only have Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to get on with it because pesky customers dominate the rest of the week and I am mindful that time is ticking away and the birds will start thinking about nesting soon. Having said that, I am grateful for a few days respite, because after 3 days at it I am a mass of aches and pains and need the recovery time. However much has not been completed by the end of February will have to wait until next autumn/winter. The photo below shows the progress made thus far. Bear in mind that the ‘trimmed’ hedge is still 8ft high!
I left the farmers’ market early yesterday to attend a family afternoon tea party. Later this week my wife Jennifer has a big birthday so we arranged a ‘do’ as part of the celebrations. She thought that it was just going to be her offspring and families, but I had arranged for her nephews, niece and their families to also come as a surprise. The plan worked perfectly and the hoped for reaction was achieved. It was a joyful occasion made all the more special by the rarity of the coming together of the extended family. I have to admit to being guilty of keeping an eye on the rugby over the shoulder of my grandson Hector who was watching it on his mobile phone screen, and couldn’t supress a whoop of delight when England scored that unexpected last gasp try – I thought that we were going to be trounced by the in-form French.
It looks as though we are in for another week of miserable gloomy weather in what has largely been a long and dreary winter. An extended spell of clear blue skies would be a treat…..but we ain’t going to get one. 6° max during the daytime, and close to freezing overnight. I’m not keen.
The fruit and vegetable offering this week is little changed, though there are ‘Blaze’ apples from Kent and blood oranges from Sicily. It’s citrus heaven, what with regular oranges, clementines and lemons too. On the veg front there will be Kalettes again, which are nice, but are a bit of a fiddle if you nip off all of the stalk ends as I do. There are still Brussels sprouts, January King cabbage, and this week I am buying in some celeriac. I don’t know how big they are going to be, so I hope that I have got the pricing about right.
I’ve got things to do so I’m going to leave this here, I hope that you don’t feel too short changed. Have a good week.
Phil