Shield

Welcoming 2021 ... and I return to shielding as the whole of England is locked down with COVID infections and deaths hitting the not unexpected peaks as a result of at least one new strain, Christmas gatherings and general Winter health. Oh dear, not a great start to the new year 😔

That photo is from when we visited the plot last weekend to get some fresh (a bit too fresh for me) air, drop some green waste into the compost bin and feed the birds.

We haven’t had snow, but we’ve had plenty of frost and freezing temperatures. Look at the frozen rain gauge! We really need to buy a new one but that can wait. The anemone flowers aren’t meant to flower till May, I don’t think, so I don’t know what they’re up to!

I made a tasty chunky soup with swede, carrots, onion and Brussels sprouts - it made for a very tasty working-from-home lunchtime meal. Yes, I’ve been ‘back’ to work for a week after a most enjoyable Christmas break. It got busy rather quickly though!

Today we drove to site to put some COVID information signs up on the allotment notice board. We didn’t go to our plot as we had stuff to do at home and I’m not sure that sitting having a coffee in our polytunnel can really count as exercise! I had to do some HAHA (Hungerford Allotment Holders Association) admin yesterday; updating the allotment registers and waiting list before emailing all the plotholders to remind them of the restrictions. (I still need to update the website, but thought I’d write this instead). As per the previous lockdowns the site will stay open, unless the restrictions are tightened. I hope to have a bit more time on the allotment this year so that I get out of the flat a bit more - we’ll just need to time it to avoid busy times.

I had some good news in the week. Thompson & Morgan listed my little blog as one of their Vibrant Veg Growing Blogs 😊 I hope to include much more growing in it this year! We ordered some seed potatoes, tomato and pepper plants this weekend, so that’s a start... but we got that far last year...We need to work out which of the unused seeds from last year will still be viable and then we can start planning...

So that’s how the year has begun. I hope soon these posts will include more good news - like a vaccine date and our next site gathering - won’t that be great when the day comes!! In the meantime, here’s the title song by Deep Purple to enjoy.