After the snow

A lovely afternoon, and the first time I've dared to try the steep path into the allotments since all the recent snow and ice. It was worth it for the breath of  springlike air as I spoke encouragingly to my fruit trees (it's Wassailing day) worth it for the little haul of winter vegetables I collected (I'll put the sprouts on in a minute to go with the roast chicken) and worth it to see all the neighbours enjoying the first diggable day of the year.

No sign at all of any broad beans though. They should be showing by now so I suspect some hungry creature dug them up soon after I planted them. I've already bought some more seeds so it's not a big deal. Vegetable gardening is never straightforward but for me the rewards far outweigh the pitfalls. I guess I wouldn't do it it it was the other way round.

I came home full of enthusiasm for spring so tonight I'll be sorting through my seed box and planning when and where to start this year's planting. Or vegging out after the chicken!

Happy gardening

In the snow

If you can see the lower photo clearly enough, you'll probably understand why we stood and pondered over these marks in the snow today. We'd seen many fox footprints and birds' footprints, but these looked like big claw marks and it took ages to decide that they had been made by a bird's wing brushing against the soft snow as it took off or landed.

The other picture is of our beekeeper's hives, dormant and completely silent, in the wooded area at the top of the hill.

As before when we've had snow, the only human visitors were ourselves. I find it really surprising that no-one else feels moved to take photos, watch the animals or even just check up on their growing vegetables when everything looks so stunningly beautiful covered in a white blanket. Well, we enjoyed it.

Happy gardening (and snow gazing)