Outside Work For Once, And Welcome Back Brownie!

Spring is sooooooo close! These are the first daffs to burst into flower in the garden....

and these are first of many to be brought into the house!

and to finish off a carpet of snowdrops at the far end of the garden. Lovely!

I'm starting this post on Friday morning and I'm going to add to it as the weekend goes along. Friday is always a bit weird as when the boys are at school I have time to get just a few things done after they leave then I head out to do the food shopping at 10am. But as they have been away all week I've much longer in the morning every day before I feel I HAVE to get to grips with the jobs of the day, and today I am not going shopping until the weekend, so even more time! The boys are only away until today really YAY! as we are soon going to the Gramps at Nantwich to bring them home!

Today there is nothing left of Storm Doris; we thankfully managed to survive apart from the odd daffodil I saw today looking a bit battered. Any damage to those who weren't quite so lucky I hope is not too serious.x

As I didn't have to go to Aber I decided to get outside as, even a bit cold, it is lovely and bright today, as you can see. 

I've been looking at the seeds in the house this last couple of days so potted on the cabbages today which will be going in the prepared brassica bed, not the main one, about which I was getting myself in a twist the other day! I've put the cherry tomato seedlings in the Poly House at the same time; I'll keep an eye on them but they are looking quite strong.

By the way, these came the other day so I will know exactly what is planted where now!

I also finished the weeding on the main veg patch so both ends are now covered; maybe a bit late but all helps to warm up the soil, I think. (The hole in the yellow plastic has some black plastic underneath it so all is covered!) 

This is a great spot now; nearest end will be for beetroot and cucumbers, plus I sowed the climbing peas in a drainpipe today, too and they will go at the far end.

I've also sown a couple of lines of spring onions in the sink and popped the two trays I had in the Poly House along side them to see how they do. 

I think the reason my spring onions failed last year is because the Poly House was too warm for them.

After Jon finished work on Friday we headed to Nantwich to get the boys. We decided to stay over and go out for Chinese then come back early Saturday morning; Jon and I were awake at 5am due to an unfamiliar bed, he pruned his dad's apple trees then we left after breakfast managing to get home by around 10.45am. When home we had a quick lunch of sausage n mash then went to Aber to do the food shopping.

No outside jobs as we were all just glad to be home together!

This morning, Sunday, I made breakfast then Jon and the boys went out to finish logging the tree - has been quite a big job as a big tree. They stacked the woodpile and made a fire pile, too, ready for a drier day. I popped into the Poly House and did the second of two PH soil tests this week I was pleased to get done. I found the soil in the main veg plot to be 5.5 and the soon-to-be fruit patch was 6 - 6.5 so I guess the latter bodes well for the blueberries which have been on my mind recently. I also took a peek at the spinach I sowed the other day and it is showing its face a little!

Our water has been off since first thing so no washing-up has been done and it is piling up!! Adding to it is the tray from the chocolate brownie I made this morning. I have filled the tin and put some in the freezer for another day.

The boys have really missed them as I have been unable to do my regular amount of baking for AGES due to lack of eggs -  (it takes 6) -  but now things are on the up as we are getting back to normal. In fact last month we collected 34 and with this month almost at an end we have already collected 42 with 2 days still to go!

The weather is not good today, very wet, and the forecast is a bit the same for the coming week but the temperatures look as if they are improving  a little so we mustn't complain.

Right, I think that is it from me. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I look forward to catching up with what everybody has been getting up to.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx

(Apologies for the differing colours of typing but I cannot get it all to turn green!)