On Friday afternoon something strange happened. The glowering grey clouds parted and a great golden rarely seen orb appeared in the sky, and with that cute bunnies frolicked in the grass, birds took to the trees and sang their little hearts out, newborn lambs skipped and hopped in the verdant meadows, and the village folk danced in the streets, joyous at the world’s reawakening. It lasted about 2 hours! I had struggled in the first part of the week to motivate myself to get on with the outdoor jobs (hedging) that I really should have been cracking on with. It was cold, dank, and frankly depressing, but after feeling sorry for myself for two days I pulled myself together on Wednesday and fired up the chainsaw, and whilst it was still gloomy the physical activity was the tonic that I need to lift me out of the doldrums – I should have done it sooner.
What I did get on with while I was dodging the great outdoors was to sow lots of seeds. The main focus was on tomatoes, sweet peppers and chilli peppers, but I also did some trays of lettuce, parsley and more onions. The three trays of lettuce have all germinated and are already out of the propagator and are on the staging in the sunken greenhouse. I also did some work in the polytunnel hoeing weeds ahead of spreading some compost for the first crops. So my time was not altogether wasted and it was all positive stuff.
A much brighter week ahead is promised, with temperatures rising on a daily basis, reaching 14° by Friday with double figures overnight. All of a sudden it is going to feel very much like spring. The catkins are hanging thickly from the Hazels, the snowdrops are in their pomp, and the Canada Geese are pairing up, it feels like the corner has been turned.
I am hoping that it’s not going to be a long ‘hungry gap’ this season, but I fear that it may be. Already there seems to be a shortage of good quality produce from other organic growers, particularly leafy green vegetables. I have some chard and spring greens growing, but ever so slowly, so I am reliant on supplies from elsewhere. This week to change things up a bit I am getting in some courgettes from Spain, and some mini chard, alongside kalettes and Brussels sprouts. There is a change in potatoes, with the red skinned Alouette joining Marfona. There will be celeriac again, but because they were so small I have adjusted the price downwards this week. My own crop was very disappointing, which was a great shame because previously I have grown some corkers – much better than any that I can buy. Let’s hope for better this season. I think that this will be the last week of Seville oranges, most people that make marmalade seem to have got that chore out of the way already, but if you haven’t, but want to, get your finger out! There are oranges, blood oranges, clementines, lemons, avocados and apples. What were the Blaze apples like? Demand for them last week was so great that there wasn’t a single one for me to try.
Going back to the hungry gap, it is still my intention to take a break for probably 3 weeks in May when produce is at its scarcest and most expensive. I will probably have a week of R&R, and the rest of the time I will be concentrating on getting ahead of myself on the growing front without distractions.
I have seen a lot of Barn Owls recently, both locally and when out on my travels. I watched one scanning the parkland on the estate one evening, there was another as I was leaving Birdbrook, one between Stoke and Clare, one near Hundon, and one somewhere else whose location I can’t recall. It’s very encouraging to have had so many sightings of such a magical bird.
I’m running late this week so I’m going to call it a day. Thanks to you all for your support, I love you all.
Best wishes to Ann who had a nasty accident last week, I hope that you are well again soon xx
Phil