Spring Work In The Garden

All of a sudden, it has become dry and a bit sunny, albeit with a stiff wind that goes and comes. There is just enough wind to prevent you from enjoying the seasons' change too much. Predicting a woman's behaviour is a challenge for a man at the best of times; however, Mother Nature is a woman whom is in a league all by Herself--not only is it difficult to guess her next move, but she can punish you swiftly and decisively for guesswork and miscalculations. I declare, sometimes she seems more an adversary than an innocent entity. Her beauty can be misleading for the unwary.

So then mates, one must take every window of opportunity and strike while the iron is hot. In my little garden window I did the following:

Soil. There were three chores to do and they had to do with soil...they were in one way or another, related. There was the soil in the greenhouse that needs removing and being replaced. There is soil in the compost bin that needs to be removed and finally, veggie beds need rejuvenating in the coming weeks prior to the planting-out of veggies.

First thing to do was to rake back the winter mulch from a couple of beds to make way for the compost and greenhouse soil. The Dalek that Eileen gave us years ago is still in use and had to be partially emptied.


Just look at that lovely compost! It was mixed in that yellow trug with fresh garden soil and a tad of dried cow manure pellets to replace the soil removed from the greenhouse.
Here, the ~12 inch deep removal site along the western side in the greenhouse.


Then the old greenhouse soil was removed and dumped onto the selected plot.


Then the new soil mixture was dumped into the trench in the greenhouse that you saw above. This will be the new growing medium for the toms and cues during the coming season.


Then there was the patch designated for sweetcorn this season. There was an abundance of compost, so the corn patch could receive a layer.


The physical work was done...but there was a row of remaining leeks in these two patches that had to be removed to make way. They were not beauties, but they woiuld do for freezing-in for later use.


Whilst cleaning the little leeks, we noticed this spiralled one. I had not seen this before.


I wonder how that happened. Mother Nature 'avin a laugh, I reckon.

Finally one of the hundreds of bees flying-about:

 

I need to emigrate. More sleet and below-zero-degrees forecast for next week. Your soil looks delicious!

 

You are right there Sjoerd, Mother Nature sure can keep us on our toes! I was reminded of this just yesterday ... after a lovely weekend we had sleet and hail yesterday.
Your compost looks great, and I am sure your tomatoes will do amazing this year. Nice to see a bloom

 

nice, S. What is a "dalek"? I haven't heard that term before.

Droopy.... eww, you poor girl, it is everywhere this week I guess. For the next 4 days it is below freezing for us, too. your 0 is not as cold as our 0 though... our zero is -17.77 for you? that is brutal. I hate it when it is that cold. I had to shovel snow for 2 hours one day in that.

Netty.. we had hail yesterday, too. Most of the day was sunny except for a huge cloud that came through and spit at us. then it went back to being sunny. WINDY though.

 

I'm curious about a 'dalek' also. I'm guessing it is a tool of some sort. It's still cold and snowy here and sound like another few days before it gets better. No work going on in our garden for a while yet. Guess that's why I enjoy seeing what is blooming and going on in everyone else's yards and lotties.

 

aaahhhh! I was wondering.

 

DROO--Yeah, why don't you think about that--emigrating. hahaha. I don't think that this country could take two nutcases like us running about down here.

NETTY-- thanks for your comments. I am dreadfully sorry to hear that your wintry weather continues.

Oké then CAROLYN--Eileen told you what a Dalek was. I thought that you guys might have Dr. Who there on the telly.

2OF--Eileen clarified the Dalek thing up for you as well. I hope that your weather will warm soon; however, I have a feeling that at your altitude, it may be a while.

EILEEN--Thanks for explaining what a Dalek is. I would not be without it either. In fact it composts better than my other hand-made pile, although it does oké. Every time one of us opens the top, we think of you and Ian. Thanks again, dear friend. x

 

Yep, thanks S, We don't have Dr Who, but my daughter does have a fascination of the show, so she sees it on the internet. I personally don't have a telly in the house. I can't stand the chaos of it. nor is there anything on the telly to watch unless it is pay TV and I am not paying to sit and watch getting nothing accomplished while it is on.

 

I wonder which Dr. Who she likes best.
I know what you mean about a telly taking up a lot of time.
I waste lots of time sitting in front of ours; however, I do like certain gardening shows and nature docs.--I say this in my own defence. chortle.

 

I don't know, but she has an official teapot and mug set, a book satchel her friend crocheted for her, socks, went to a dr who convention...has oodles of time invested in watching...

 

Next time you get a chance, just say to her---“Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow.”
or
“Somewhere there’s danger, somewhere there’s injustice, somewhere else, the tea’s getting cold.”