What a weekend of spring weather!

What a weekend of spring weather!

Well, apart from Sunday morning when it just rained.

Saturday though was great, wall to wall sunshine for most of the day, and today, Sunday the sun came out again in the afternoon, so we managed to get a lot done in the garden. We also managed to get some farm stuff done - the pygmy goat kids got to see sunshine, llama poo got picked up and mulched around the blueberry bushes, hay got shifted between barns, chickens coops got cleaned out, and a hay rack got lowered so the nanny goat didn't have to jump up to reach it - but the focus on the weekend was the vegetable plot and plants.

Great to see one of these today enjoying the warm sunshine as well.

A sure sign that spring is on its way!

The big job though was this:-

These last leeks had to make way for some new planting - the leeks would make a great addition to this evenings dinner as would these that are also starting to show, albeit just one or two.

Purple sprouting broccoli - a favourite.

After much back breaking the leek bed looked like this:-

And a row of peas sowed it looked like this:-

We also managed to pot up 80+ dahlias, sow lettuces, cucumbers, sweet corn in the propagator and sowed carrots and spring onions in a raised bed.

Time for a beer now!

What great weather we had today in North Devon!

...and it was a Saturday, so no office work today!

On Friday we got the covers on our new polytunnel, and although I didn't have much time to do anything inside them, it was a nice enough day to get loads done outside.

We repaired the two greenhouses - both had broken glass - one from wind damage in a storm before Christmas, and one with a stone whipped up from a strimmer. They both need clearing out now as we need to make space for the seedlings that are already germinating in the propagator.

We also fixed the fencing in the boy pygmy goats new paddock - they'll finally be moved in the morning! they'll be well away from the girls then, as at the moment they are far too close. The girls will be kidding in the next few weeks, so not a moment too soon!

One raised bed was cleaned out of weeds, and another was cleaned out of last years runner beans and canes. Weeds seem to be mainly stinging nettles that have taken hold, I have dug them out and left the roots laying on the grass as we hope a frost will kill them off before adding them to the compost bin!

I hate to say it but the grass looks as if it could do with a cut!

A sunny day - let's work in the garden!

It's a very pleasant winters day here in North Devon, the sun is shining, very little wind and the birds are singing, almost as if spring is here, but we know it isn't.

Today, I have too much office work to do, including writing this blog, to do much in the garden, but with some help we have replaced the frame for our little polytunnel. Tomorrow, the same help is going to put up a second frame and then we'll get the covers on!

Woohoo, that means that I will have somewhere to work outside when the wind is blowing and the rain is pouring! I can't wait.

Last winter I lost two polytunnels to the weather, one was an old one that before the storms came that just needed a new cover, but the cover was on and the storm ripped it off and twisted/broke the frame.

The other was an even older one that had a new cover put on, but it was not put on tight enough and the same thing happened, the frame ended up twisted and the new cover ripped to pieces.

This year, we have waited a bit longer and with some nice quiet settled weather, now is a good time to get them set up, so by next week, I hope to start clearing out the ground to get ready for some early sowing!

Can't wait!