Across the Marsh in March

It's an early Easter this year, so a bit too soon for our spuds to go in. We had a lovely Good Friday, digging on Plot 3, but yesterday and today have been rainy so no digging. We've walked via the allotment both days though; we're waiting for our broad beans to germinate; the salad leaf has sprouted already. Today we ventured through rain, wind and bright sunshine across Freeman's Marsh and back through town when this amazing rainbow appeared.

Buds are emerging on the trees and shrubs so it won't be long now...

Looking forward to the rhubarb which is normally one of our first harvests.

The birds are pairing up and singing their little heads off in the hedges - masses of robins, starlings and blackbirds, but I can't resist a photo of the swans who look so clean against the dark water today.

The recent rainy weather has made the marsh very wet in places.

I love these grass tussocks alongside the stream.

Red kites are always flying over the allotment and this one was enjoying the windy weather over the marsh today.

Back home now and we've just had some loud claps of thunder - Storm Katie announcing herself I think! I hope there's some lightning when it gets dark!

Across the Marsh

It's extremely windy and very wet today but we thought we'd wander up the allotment via Freemans Marsh. The River Dun was running fast and the paths are muddy and slippery.

There wasn't much wildlife to be seen, just a few pigeons and crows letting the wind take them where it wanted. The moles have been busy though! Look at that lovely soil, it always looks good after the moles have worked it :-)

I noticed that our greenhouse is visible across the marsh, through the leafless hedge. The canal is between the marsh and the allotment site. You can tell it's our greenhouse because that's our ash tree (in the centre of the pic).

It was a blustery walk, not too cold though and, not surprisingly, we were the only ones on site. There's so much to be done, but today was not the day to be doing it!

Lots of the grape hyacinths are in flower, but the colour is a bit washed out - perhaps because of the weather? There are certainly more flowers than there were at this time last year though.

Our new pot raspberry bush has some lovely shiny, hairy new leaves growing, which must be a good sign.

And the rhubarb plants are just beginning to reveal new growth under all the dead remains of last year.

Evening stroll

We've just got back from the plot. Our shallots (Pikants and Golden Gourmet) have grown really tall - we think our compost may have been a bit rich for them. Some of the golden gourmets have flowered but we've been pinching the tops off so hopefully we'll still get ok shallots from them...

Pikant

Golden Gourmet

On the walk back we managed to catch a bat on camera - under the bridge over the River Dun on Bridge Street. They swoop around and fly really close to your face. We've seen them there before - but didn't see any last year so it's good that they're back.