Monday 3rd April 2023: It’s early and there was a frost but it feels like a typical spring day today, the sun is shining and melting off the frost pretty quickly. I am not sure it will be very warm but it’s not raining 😁 we have now had a couple of days without rain thank goodness as it was getting beyond funny. So it looks like I will be able to get outside and do something useful in the garden, no idea what yet as I haven’t gathered my thoughts entirely. It is also the Easter holidays for the children and a short week as we head towards the Easter weekend 🐰
I quickly whizzed round with the hoover and polish, cleaning is one of the tricky to find moments here 😂 When it’s raining there is no point because animals and humans just track muddy wet feet in and all efforts then become a waste of time. When it’s a fine day I just want to get outside and get on, but I do it for my own sanity, it is nice to have somewhere clean and fresh to come into when you have been busy outside all day. I am waiting for the days when I can get the windows thrown open and blankets and cushion covers out on the line to dry but there is no enough heat in the sun to do the job just yet.
It’s 3pm and I have spent most of the day outside in the garden, weeding and digging up perennial weeds especially stingers. I know they are great for wildlife but for the children not so much, you can guarantee if they trip over it’s always into stingers. I also spent a bit of time putting down weed membrane on the tricky area, I was unable to decide what to do for the best because there are things growing that that I want to keep but other things are failing and the weeds are rampant. So I dug up the bits I am keeping, cut back all the suckers from the apricot tree and covered over with weed membrane. It will probably stay for the rest of the year even though there is asparagus under there, it was usually a bit spindly anyway. Then Charlie and Oscar came so I stopped for a cuppa with them before sweeping off winter debris from the decking and sweeping out cobwebs from the pirate ship. I tried to start the lawn mower but it’s the new one and I haven’t used it before John usually does it so I have no idea how it starts 😂 The grandchildren are having an Easter egg hunt on Friday so I thought I would tidy up the areas that they will probably be looking around plus the jobs needed doing anyway. Inside for a quick sit down before going back out to get more work done.
At 3.30 I looked after Josh and Flo for a couple of hours then while John was feeding the animals and the dinner was cooking I cut the lawn. A good full day today I reckon, its nearly 7pm so dinner, wash up and sit down for what will be left of the evening, pooped.
Tuesday: I went to bed earlier than usual last night as I was so tired lol. This morning it’s a frosty start again but the sun is shining so hopefully another lovely day ahead and I can get a fair bit done outside. I have been holding off planting some things up but I think now is a good time to get them into the ground the trouble is there is always so many other things to do as well.
This morning I signed up to be part of a study group for Cambridge university, it’s a trial being funded by Lupus UK. The study is focused on mental health in long term illness and there are four groups and each will be doing something different, the forth is a control group that won’t be doing anything. I won’t know which group I am in until May but it will be interesting to take part and to see the results at the end. I think that most of the time you are just trying to get by and so are not aware of your mental health it’s just part and parcel of your life and your illness (even if you are stable) it’s not until you fill in a questionnaire and you analyse thoughts that you realise that things could be better 🤷♀️ On the whole I think I have a positive mental attitude but there are times and areas when that dips and during a flare it can dip pretty low but luckily I have not had one for a couple of years now (touch wood 🪵)
I spent the morning sorting out plants that had been potted up over winter, some went out for sale, some that never made it went to the compost heap and the rest I tidied up and are nicely stored in the cold frames. That meant plenty of empty pots and trays to be tidied away and sweeping up to do. I just finished when Shelley came with Josh and Flo quickly followed by Sam, Mia, George and Lucie, Charlie and Oscar arrived a little later. The weather was lovely enough to sit outside in the garden and the children had picnic lunch on a blanket. While the children were busy playing Shelley and I got the netting onto the top of the fruit cage and secured that in place, that’s another job done. I am hoping to keep the birds out entirely this year, I can never see where they get in but hopefully this year they can’t and I will have a good haul of raspberries, blackcurrants and strawberries 😋 Lucie was asking me where the strawberries and tomatoes are, I explained that I had to grow them first and it was too early yet 😂 I do love it that their memories will be of eating tomatoes and soft fruit from Nanas garden 🥰 We also saw a herd of large deer in the field next door, they are getting quite frequent as they were there yesterday as well.
Wednesday: I have showered, breakfasted, hung out the washing, put the eggs out, done the washing up, fed the dogs and cats and watered in the greenhouse all before 9am. I am now waiting for it to warm up just a little before going out to pick rhubarb and cut flowers now that there are some ready to cut 😁
I have been thinking about the subtle changes in the flowers and foliage as we move from week to week. I used to think only in seasons, seed sowing season, growing season, harvesting season and resting season which of course all roughly follow Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Since closely watching flowers on a daily basis though I came to realise that there are micro seasons too, they are very subtle changes but they are definitely there. I think I have mentioned it causally before but the more I watch the more I learn, there is a slow decline of early spring bulbs but at the same time slowly growing late spring bulbs and flowers are getting under way, the same can be said for early flowering foliage. I have recently read a book that confirms my observations and the lady that wrote it notes that she can identify three sections within each season. The ancient Japanese apparently identified 72 micro seasons in a year so I really must up my game and watch more lol.
I had a busy morning cutting flowers, prepping them for conditioning and then picking rhubarb, doesn’t sound a lot but it was a good couple of hours in all. Then Charlie arrived at lunchtime with Oscar and I looked after him for a few hours while Charlie went for an appointment. Nursery rhymes, naps (for Oscar not me) and feeding time all went smoothly, once Charlie had picked Oscar back up it was time to sort out the flowers. Making up bouquets and market bunches plus jam jar flowers also takes longer than it sounds but it is never boring 🥰 the smells are amazing and the result of what I have put together at the end are beautiful 🤩 A quick sit down and something to eat before going off to this months flower club meeting.
Flower club was fab, I had no idea what we were going to make the title was ‘tripods and test tubes’ 🤷♀️ It was somewhat laborious winding string around canes and test tubes but I think the outcome was great and in my head I was already up scaling it 😂 big rustic branches and tubular vases would would a treat for an occasion I think.
Thursday: Friday flowers are going out a day early this week so I was up early with plenty of jobs to do before getting the flowers out at 8am. I was on a multitasking mission which included getting something out for dinner, using the chop saw to cut wood for arrangement orders, drilling a piece of wood for the Easter tree and getting that set up, making up more jam jar flowers as they sold out quickly, cutting foliage for the arrangements I need to make, nailing the hazel whips to the wood and sorting out the dishes to be filled with moss for the arrangement, meeting customers and handing over their flower orders as well as all the usual jobs. Never a dull moment round here and no two days are ever the same.
I spent a couple off hours in the afternoon putting the foliage in the arrangements that are being collected on Saturday, I can’t do it tomorrow as we have a busy day. The twins arrived for their Thursday session while Mia went swimming, I get them their tea while they are here but George is a bit under the weather and not eating much unless it’s custard or yoghurt 😂
Good Friday: It’s a bank holiday today and we had a day of family fun. After getting the morning jobs done the grandchildren arrived for an Easter egg hunt in the garden which was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone. The weather was beautiful, blue skies and sunshine, I doubt it would have been as much fun in the rain! We sat in the garden for a good couple of hours eating hot cross buns and Easter cakes that Charlie made. After everyone left I added the flowers to the arrangements that had been ordered for tomorrow, a quick sit down before getting the afternoon jobs done and the off out for another family party. A farm outbuilding had been transformed into an exceptionally great pub called The Jolly Welshman for my niece’s partner it is his 30th birthday this week, bbq, beer on tap, bar snacks, optics and great furnishing they pulled off an epic feat there. We didn’t stay too late and we’re home by 10pm as the dogs needed letting out but we had a brilliant day.
Saturday: Up and about quite early, it was frosty but again the sun is shining, oh and last night the moon was amazing, full, low and yellowy/orange and it could still be seen first thing this morning too. John did the animals and went off to get feed, I got the eggs sorted and did the last bits to the arrangements that were being picked up this morning. These gave me sleepless nights thinking about how best to do them and I don’t think I will be doing any more 😂 but I enjoyed the challenge and learnt along the way so that’s a win.
Once collected we went out to a local landscaping centre to look for some plants, didn’t have much luck and only found one that I wanted so we then drove to a garden centre. I found a couple more of the specifics I was looking for but still not all of them, I lost a few over winter and am trying to replace them but it’s proving difficult so maybe I will have to do without them for now. My runner beans were old seed and they are not amounting to anything, I considered buying plants but when I looked at the state of them for the price I decided to buy new seed instead 😜 Half of the plant trays had damping off problems so it didn’t look good for the rest of them in the tray 🙄 I looked at grafted tomato plants too but figured I will wait to see if my seeds sprout and if not there are usually plenty for sale locally. I just feel that germination is really slow this year, not sure why, maybe I say that every year then end up with too many plants 😂
I spent a bit of time in the garden, John fix the cracked fitting on the outside water pipe, we had to turn it back off in the week when we discovered it was leaking but we are all good now. I watered the ranunculus and anemone in the poly tunnel, the anemone are producing well and the ranunculus should start soon. I have plenty of tulips coming to the fore now lol probably too many but that’s better than not enough. Other plants are just starting to put on tiny growth and I am still waiting to see if some have made it or not. One or two of the dahlias are sprouting, they will stay in the greenhouse until the risk of frost has passed and then go out. Some are still in the ground and I won’t know if they have made it for a few weeks yet.
Sunday: Busy, busy, busy day, I have spent most of the day in the garden planting up everything that can be planted, some in the poly tunnel and some in the garden. If we are going to have rain I might as well make the most of the dry day today and the watering in by Mother Nature tomorrow. It was supposed to be sunny and blue skies but that didn’t appear luckily for me 😁 it meant it was a perfect day to be dong whatever needed doing and that included lots of weeding. I did spend an hour or so helping John, he was setting up the water tanks ready to catch the rain that is coming and needed me to help get the tanks up on the stands (easier said than done 😜) I also hoovered out the boot and the back seat of the car to remove the hay from last week 😝 I sowed some runner bean seeds, the ones that I had saved from a couple of years ago failed miserably so fresh seed was needed. I will try harder to save seed this year and make sure I use it the following year instead of leaving it. A few of the seeds I sowed last week are starting g to appear, the dwarf bean, broad bean and peas have tiny shoots in the greenhouse. Indoors the courgettes are beginning to sprout but no sign of the tomatoes yet 🙄 We are away for a week at the end of the month and I need to make sure that everything is under control before I go which is another reason to get as much in the ground as possible. Shelley is very capable at maintaining it all but not so confident with growing and transplanting not on this scale anyhow. Most veg plants won’t go in until I get back and I certainly won’t direct sow anything until I return. After 30 odd years of gardening I can tell the difference between a weed seed and a useful seed but it’s not fair to put that pressure on someone else!
John cut the front paddock with the ride on mower, too short of course 🙄 I did tell him to set the blades high but there is none so deaf as those that don’t want to hear 😬
frieslandfarm (flowers) 