knitting, nature and living with autism in the family
According to my calendar, today is officially the first day of spring here in the UK. The sign that spring has arrived in our garden is always the blossoming of an old plum tree.
Last year it suffered the loss of a major bough but it seems to have survived and hopefully some of the blossoms will yield some juicy plums for jam making later in the year.
Even Toby has been noticing that the trees are changing on our regular weekend walks!
We’ve had 3 back-to-back days of spring sunshine here. It’s lovely how a bit of blue sky over your head and sunshine on your face can make you feel so much more energetic and positive and I’m suddenly feeling the need to get my fingers in the dirt and get the garden ready for veggie growing again.
This will be my third year of growing and so our soil needs a top up with a bit of richly rotted down compost. Luckily the chicken ladies are very helpful in that department. I remember being amazed when we got them at the quanity of poo that they generate but it’s all being put to good use and hopefully my veggies this year will grow big and fat and delicious courtesy of the chicken ladies digestive productivity!
This year I’m rotating the crops in my four beds again with brassicas (broccoli & cabbage), dwarf french beans, carrots & parsnips, garlic & onions. Elsewhere in the garden I’m also growing tomatoes, patty pan squash, courgettes, lettuce, herbs, potatoes, raspberries and strawberies and I have a new little patio apple tree that is only supposed to grow to around 6ft tall.
I’m going to give beetroot a go this year too – prompted by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s delicious sounding recipe for beetroot, goat cheese and redcurrant salad and his slightly less tempting chocolate and beetroot brownies (both from River Cottage Everyday – I’ll let you know how they turn out!). Are you growing anything in your patch this year?
It’s tidy up time in my garden. The last of our potatoes, tomatoes, carrots and squash are gathered in for another year with just the parsnips left to be pulled after Christmas, as apparently they grow sweeter after a couple of frosts. I’m left with a bowl of green tomatoes which will probably get turned into chutney.
Around the rest of the garden greens are turning to reds – I do love autumn leaves.
There’s even a spot of green and red knitting going on inside. I’m really enjoying playing around with new ideas for a batch of nordic animals which will be ready to find new homes in time for Christmas. Next week it’s forecast to be turning colder and I’m looking forward to getting our fire stoked up and curling up with my wool. Hope you have a snuggly weekend!
little cotton rabbits 