Monday 27th March 2023: Gosh the month is rattling along isn’t it 🙄 This morning the weather looks promising 🙄 dry and I can see the sun though it is a tad cold at 8am mind you the clocks went forward so it will feel like 7am until we adjust and so will the temps lol. Hopefully it will stay dry we could do with a break from the dank outlook so it feels a bit more like spring.
I picked rhubarb this morning to put out for sale, I love rhubarb season it the first of the home grown crops to become available in any quantity. I then thought the best place to be working this morning in on the front beds as the sun has come out. So I spent some time weeding and also sorting out the supports for the taller plants such as delphiniums, lupin and chrysanthemums. I soon realised I am going to need to start wearing a hat and sunscreen 🙄 that would be way too early for most people but I can already feel the effects of the sun on my head 😒 I have two small problem areas as it is at the minute and if I don’t cover up chances are I will lose the hair and have even more bald spots than I already have. All winter long I mostly forget that I have an issue with the sun 😂 I eagerly await some real sunshine and then can’t spend very long in it without cover 😂 such is life, there are worse things but it’s a real pain sometimes (well a lot of the time really) I retreated indoors to dig out hats have a cuppa and skim through my new reading material before heading back outside suited and booted.
It’s a fine day and it’s best to make the most of it so I have been outside the whole time until mid afternoon. I have weeded, planted up raspberry canes, cut down the pussy willow next to the house and bundled that up for later use, weeded some more (quite a lot more 😝) and cut back suckers from trees. The area with the apricot and cherry tree is a tricky area, the apricot tree sends suckers out all over the place, the comfrey has taken hold as have the stingers and every other weed mentionable. I have the thornless blackberry growing there and some asparagus but I think I have decided to dig up what I want to keep and try to suppress everything else under membrane for the remainder of the year and see if I can regain some control. I have no idea what else I can do with it otherwise, nature is reclaiming it 😂
The temptation is strong to just keep going but I am of an age when I recognise that I need to stop and rest, if I kept going it would be half hearted so better to re charge and do the job properly and besides I need a Nana nap 😂
Tuesday: A totally different day today, raining, grey, dank. I whizzed round and did some polishing, hoovering and tidying away before Charlie came and we went to Witney with Oscar for a quick look round and a coffee. I needed some black shoes for my upcoming holiday, I have to admit defeat to high heels 😂 and go for lower shoes with comfort these days. The problem is the choice is awful, I am pretty sure shoe manufacturers could do a whole lot better than either shoes that feel like planks of wood to wear or glorified slippers 😝 it seems not. Charlie stayed for a while to feed Oscar when we got back and then went home. I had been fighting off a headache all morning but it got worse in the afternoon so I had a lay down and fell asleep, that still didn’t cure it even with paracetamol although it was a little better. I didn’t get anything else done other than make the dinner.
Wednesday: Grey and dank again today, good job I made the most of Mondays weather. My headache has gone thank goodness, it means I can focus on the day ahead. The farrier is coming this morning and so is a delivery of flowers. I had a quick look round the garden this morning the bridal crown are almost ready to start cutting and the tulips just need to put some stem length on and then they should be good to cut. I have a couple of ranunculus flowers emerging 😁 and the snakehead are doing daintily well, I am hoping to get time to practise some vase arrangements this week at some point. On Monday while I was weeding I took a quite a few rooted pieces of Nepeta and popped those into a jar of water. Nepeta (cat mint) was one of the surprises in the cutting garden, it’s abundant once it gets going, cut and come again, it has lovely textured foliage and a glaucous leaf plus it can get quite tall making it one of the best fillers for bouquets and bunches in my opinion, there is the tiny pretty blue flower of course which add to its usefulness and on the nature side of things the bees absolutely love it, win, win.
The farrier came and Biscuit has laminitis ☹️ she has not had it since we have had her though she has had it in a previous life. Gutted that we have blotted our score card, she seems ok with it though, the way she ran around the paddock you would never know 😂 That then meant a scort round to dig out all the fencing stakes, tape and electric and rig up an electrified pen which she will probably remain in for the whole spring and summer 🙄 As we had finished the last of the big hay bales during the cold snap we had to get some more in. Sam took Johns car and went to get a couple of small bales, we now have a car covered in hay 😝
I had a few deliveries due today which all came at various times, I then went out to do a bit of tidying up and burn some rubbish before coming in to make a cup of tea, just about to sit down when another delivery arrived. Shelley called in and so did Charlie with Oscar.
It’s 7.30pm and the rain is ridiculous, it has been raining on and off all day and now belting it down. We lose signal on the tv when it’s really bad, I think the satellite has been there so long it is breaking down. The only reason we have a freesat box is so that John can record programmes as he refuses to pay 😝 it is becoming obsolete technology and I would get rid and pay but 🤷♀️
I have a zoom meeting tonight on pruning 😁 always up for learning whatever I don’t already know.
Thursday: Another dull, grey day with the threat of rain 🙄 Getting bored of it now, fat or famine as always! I have a funeral to attend later this afternoon but the rest of the day is mine to decide what to do, governed by the weather of course. We just need some drier, warmer days to pick up our spirits here which are ebbing to be honest.
I managed to miss the showers walking to and from the church but it did rain a fair amount in between. Does anyone else feel that everything is on hold? I just can’t move things forward with the garden at all and there does not look like much let up over the next few days in fact tomorrow looks horrendous 😝
Friday: No change in the awful weather and it’s playing havoc with growing seedlings. I have some in the greenhouse that came through lovey and then pfft, one colder night and they keeled over. This morning after doing Friday flowers I went into the greenhouse to see how things are going. Some successes, some failures but all very slow. I sowed a tray of cucumber, peppers and tomato but I have bought the tray indoors to get going, I am tempted to plug the propagators in just to get it all going but as I have no idea how the weather is going to go long term I am not sure if that is a good idea or not. The problem is with heat I can get good plants under way but when they get to a size that they should be transplanted it could still be cold and then where do I move them to 🤷♀️ I have a feeling with all this rain that the outdoor flowers are just all going to come at once so I end up with a glut rather than a slow succession, it seems like a no win situation at the minute.
Tulips are just beginning to flower outside and next year I think I will try growing some in the tunnel, the risk there is mice eating the bulbs, it’s a never ending guessing game 😂
I cut my contorted hazel branch ready for the Easter tree, it needs to dry out a little before I decorate it and get it on display, it has some wonderful lichen on it though which adds to its charm.
Just gone 1pm and ffs it’s hammering down 🙄 I need to walk down to the pub to take some flowers and told them I am waiting for a dry spot 😂 might be a while. I shut the door on the flower shed initially because of the rain then I re opened it and now the rain is blowing in that direction I imagine they will be soaked. Oh our green and pleasant land is green for a reason I know but seriously we have not had much let up for four days now.
Saturday: Well that was a different start to the day, it’s 1st April so All fools day but this was no joke. The whole (pretty much) of the next town along woke up to no water (the irony is not lost on me after all this rain) the messages started first with Charlie asking if we had water, we did and I told her to come over and get some if she needed it. Next I messaged on the family page to say the same as many have young children and babies plus everyone needs their morning brew right 😂 Then the phone calls and messages started for John, being a plumber he was the first port of call for some but there was nothing he could do 🤷♀️ It is Mums birthday 🥳 today but she was over at 7.30 to fill up some containers 😂 The social media is going mad with all the questions to which the reply from any utility as always is ‘we are investigating’ 😝 Normally it’s us with either no water, no electric or no internet so it’s nice to offer help to others for a change. What worries me is that people have no idea how to cope in these situations 🤷♀️ I have a back up plan for most things here, battery powered lights, a store of bottle water (enough to get us through a couple of days) and solar powered battery charging pack 🙄 though the lack of sun might be the downfall there. I also have water cleansing tablets just in case the water is off for a long time (admittedly that would be some kind of disaster situation) and stores of food that is rotated for an emergency situation. If needs be we could dig a compost loo and rig up an outdoor shower (warmer months only 😝) As I type at 9 am it is apparently all kicking off down at the supermarket over the bottled water! It pays to be a bit of a prepper I can tell you, who knows what is around the next corner.
On the upside it’s nearly 4pm and we have had no rain today yet, dare not speak too soon mind you as the sky looks iffy. We have had a rare day off today, still the usual jobs have to be done of course, feeding, egg collecting but other than that nothing else here on the farm. We have been to town as I needed to get some new black trousers for my holiday, coffee and cake out and then round to Mums to say happy birthday and have more cake 😁 There were plenty of family coming and going so we stayed a longer than planned but it’s nice to have time off.
Sunday: Another dry but cold day though the sun came out in the afternoon there was still a chill in the air. Plenty of jobs done in the morning including some seed sowing and rhubarb picking, John cleaned out the birds and his van 🙄 Then we went out for lunch at our local pub, delicious food at the Rose and Crown, after that it was round to Shelley and Martins to wish him happy birthday and have tea and cake 😁 Back home in time to do the animals and clock off for the day.
frieslandfarm (flowers) 