We woke to a very frosty Hungerford today and even saw some gentle snowflakes falling but not enough to settle. Early afternoon we took some compost up to the plot. It was cold but mostly sunny so we stayed for an hour or so. There was torrential wind and rain last Thursday, and all the rain-collectors were topped with ice.
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| Coldest night of the winter, I think -5° |
We noticed that one of our metal frameworks had collapsed (easy enough to re-construct) THEN we noticed that our enviromesh cage had disappeared completely! Well. It was over on Neal's plot and had attached itself to one of his tent poles!
It had flown the way of the arrow! Not sure if it blew straight over or did a few twists and turns - but it wasn't at all damaged, weird. And it had captured one of Neal's leeks :-)
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| This is after we've finished |
We cleared all the dead leaves and runners from the strawberries and put them in the compost. This will be their last year. They've got huge crowns so hope they produce lots of lovely strawbs again this year.
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| This is rhubarb |
Talking of crowns ... There are life signs on the rhubarb, if you look really close!
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| A closer look... |
Talking of life signs ... Not sure I'm going to get any garlic from the bulbs I put in the raised bed... That's a bit of lichen you've spotted, not garlic!
It started feeling colder so we wandered home. As we got to the top of site we saw two egrets flying over. It looked like one egret was chasing another off and then returned to his mate on the marsh - which is when I snapped this as the couple took off. I know it's out of focus, but I quite like it anyway.
Talking of birds... Don't forget the
Big Garden Bird Watch on 24th-25th January.
It had flown the way of the arrow! Not sure if it blew straight over or did a few twists and turns - but it wasn't at all damaged, weird. And it had captured one of Neal's leeks :-)
It started feeling colder so we wandered home. As we got to the top of site we saw two egrets flying over. It looked like one egret was chasing another off and then returned to his mate on the marsh - which is when I snapped this as the couple took off. I know it's out of focus, but I quite like it anyway.
Talking of birds... Don't forget the Big Garden Bird Watch on 24th-25th January.
We've just ordered new strawberry plants for next year. As for out of focus egrets - to capture a bird in flight is always tricky so I think that you did well.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sue. Do you replace strawberries every 3 years?
DeleteThat's the perceived wisdom and ours was planted up in April 2011 and didn't produce a great crop last year, We are planting up a new bed but are lucky in that we have space to leave the present bed in place so we at least get something off them, I'll be posting in detail when we replant although for a while we will pot up the new plants and keep them, in the greenhouse
DeleteIt's hard to get rid of plants, but Jamie reckons the last year gives a good crop (a final flush?), so hopefully he's right on that too!
DeleteWhy will it be the strawberries last year? Everything looks very brown doesn't it. Our rhubarb is coming up too.
ReplyDeleteThey reckon 3 years for strawberries then it's time to replace them as 'they're past their best'...
Delete