Monday 30th January 2023: I decided today was the day to start getting on outside well in the tunnels actually. The weather is fair for the time of year and it’s not raining so it seemed like a good idea. I did all the bits that needed doing inside before venturing out to cut back all the chrysanthemums in the small tunnel, they will go back outside once the weather is a little better and I will feed and water them then. In the big tunnel the anemone and ranunculus are coming through slowly, it’s still a bit too cold for them to be doing much but they are making an effort and the anemone have even started to flower although the stems are short. I did some weeding in there as well but in all honesty there was not much to get my teeth into. Onto the greenhouse and that’s when the deflation set in as a mouse has eaten pretty much everything that I had growing 😏 try as I might I cannot keep the mice out of there and I even put things up on racks to try and stop them but with no success. Some tulip bulbs and elephant garlic has been eaten along with seeds and seedlings. I reason with myself that there is plenty that has survived the winter but still it is a pain in the proverbial and a set back. I have decided that I will not do autumn sowings again though as it just isn’t worth the hassle better to concentrate on spring sowings and hope for better success. It is a constant battle against nature and better to pick the battles you might actually win I suppose. It is too early to tell what exactly has survived in the garden yet but I suspect most things are ok, those that didn’t make it will perhaps need some rethinking, do I try again or not bother and find an alternative that will, I think I know the answer to that one 😁
A quick look round the garden areas and I can see plenty of spring bulbs pushing their way upwards, there is a lot of cutting back to do but I am reluctant to start that just yet. Insects are still hibernating and all that dead stuff is providing cover not just for them but for the roots of plants as well, the temptation is strong though 🤪
Yep it was too strong 😂 so I went out and did a good few hours of cutting back dead stuff, I chop a lot of it up and leave it on the ground and I did find overwintering insects, some good, some not so good, for my plants anyway. I had to really force myself to stop, it’s like going to the gym after you haven’t been for months (or years) I am using muscles that have not been used all winter and they were feeling it.
I did go back out and mulch a few pots with some wood chip, I have a peach tree in a pot that has never produced a peach, a couple of small leaved lime trees and a winter flowering clematis which is just about to flower. If I mulch a few things a day they will all be ready to face whatever the weather throws our way 🙄
Tuesday: Another good session outside and I was able to get more washing dry on the line, winning 😁 I spent a good amount of time cutting back, tidying areas and mulching with woodchip. I got the slow cooker on the go first thing with some left over chicken and vegetables so I didn’t have to worry about stopping to sort the dinner later in the afternoon. The temperatures are pleasant for the time of year and I even have to take my coat off now and again when I get too hot. A few more days like these will mean I will be on course to meet spring 🥰
Wednesday 1st February: The weather is looking good for today again, dry and reasonable enough temperatures so I am planning to be outside a fair bit. I need to cut some foliage and anything else I can find as I have flowers arriving tomorrow ready for week end sales. These are grown by a family run business here in the south so although they are not mine they are still supporting the UK economy and hopefully my tulips, narcissi and hellebores will not take too long to appear.
Thursday: A sweet and sour morning lol, we had good wins on the premium binds, sweet 😁 news that the bird flu has jumped species into foxes and otters, sour 😏 the bad news keeps coming, interest rates going up again and water costs going up by 7.5% 🙄 the cost of living is getting higher and higher. The mass strikes are doing nothing but add to the problems, I have no doubt that each strike is for the right reasons but surely anyone can see that there is no way on Earth that all of these demands could ever be met across the board even if the government wanted to (I am not denying that they don’t) It boils down to the fact that the unions are wanting to bring the government down, fair enough but is the alternative going to be any better 🤷♀️ I seriously doubt it and somehow, someday the next generation will be paying for it. I guess it is like cooking dinner for a big family, you can please some of them some of the time but not all of them all of them time 🙄
Friday: I was awake early so figured I may as well get up and get on. I woke up and everything I needed to get done first thing was going round in my head so there was no way I would get back to sleep for another hour. I had flowers to organise for the Friday flower launch, four bunches composed, one hand tied for a regular customer sorted, three lots of jam jar flowers arranged. Then it was on to getting everything out to the farm gate and the sign at the end of the driveway, I got cramp in my hands when I was trying to jump it down there 🙄 Once that as done and all the tidying up done I had time for half a cup of tea before shooting off to get blood tests done. Six vials today 😂 as the hospital wanted to test and see why I am getting cramp all the time. I am pretty sure they will come back with no apparent reason and that I am just getting old 🤪 but you never know. The infection I had finally cleared up so there will be no need to drop my immune suppressants, yay. Back home for a cup of hot sweet tea to compensate for all that blood gone and then back on with the day.
It was all going so well and then not 🙄 I had decided to give some flowers away on the Facebook page, a simple question to answer and then names go into a draw, easy you would think. Then hackers started messaging everyone who had commented that they had won, I literally could not keep up with the notifications that kept rolling in from the hackers 😢 I had a mad half an hour or more of trying to delete it all and then change my password, put a message out so that nobody followed the fake links. I hate these people or more likely bots, not only do they damage a business reputation but make the business owner feel like crap. I thought I would do a good thing but it ended up shite so I won’t be doing that again sadly, I found it all rather deflating not to mention stressful.
At dusk John was putting the birds away and I was getting the flowers in when our dog started barking furiously at the roadside. We had a look and a car had stopped because there was a dog on the road, I didn’t recognise it but took it back with me into the yard to keep it safe from the traffic. It actually lives over the road but I had never taken any notice (note to self be more aware lol) We could hear our neighbour calling for it and reunited them, another strange dog episode as she said the dog never gets out, first ours then theirs, strange goings on.
Saturday: A busy morning first thing with customers coming for flowers, I am so chuffed that the first week has gone so well and excited for the rest of the flower year to see what that brings (no more competitions though 😂) John did the feed run after he had to go and fix a burst pipe that is. In between customers I sorted out the ranunculus corms to soak, some I planted in Autumn and they are coming up nicely in the tunnel along with the anemones. Then I sorted the pots of hyacinths which are just breaking the surface and will be some lovely first flowers for using in various ways. The temps are set to dip low again in the first part of the week, it is still winter I suppose 😏 but hopefully after that they will steadily climb upwards and everything will start to spring into life.
Sunday: A frosty start but the sun soon melted that away and it was a lovely day. I spent the morning in the garden, tidying, weeding, cutting back plenty of dead stuff. I can see new growth coming through on plenty of plants which is fabulous. I checked over the bulbs I had planted especially for cutting and most of them are breaking the surface nicely, one bed is suspiciously devoid of any growth and the bulbs have probably been eaten. Ranunculus are particularly tasty to mice and although I do have some coming up I suspect a lot of them have been snacked on. However I did keep some back and they are currently on the windowsill soaking in water to rehydrate them, they will then go on a shallow tray of soil and be pre sprouted before being planted up. I hope to guarantee a crop that way but you never know. It always seems that the loveliest of flowers is also lovely to every other living thing around 🤪 John has been cleaning out the birds and also working on the workshop area, someone has already asked about using it to teach a bee keeping course so I am thinking it was a good decision though I have yet to work out how everything will proceed.
frieslandfarm (flowers) 