Equinox

We are half way through March and your garden has endured long dark winter days, frost,rain and maybe snow as well. and then suddenly nature decides to time for a change and it is spring.

So you will see your plot, after lying semi-dormant and glum through the winter, wake up and ‘spring‘ into action.

Its like being a young child waiting for your birthday counting the days until the frost has disappeared.....However caution is advisable. As I write this snow, has return to New York and a cold snap has returned.

Get your sowing wrong and you will lose your plants to a late frost. Get it right and your plants  will crop earlier, extending the growing season.

Be in touch with your garden and learn how to listen to nature. Your instinct will dictate when the time has come to plant.

For myself, I watch the grass and the hedge rows...When I see growth there; I go for it because I know that  Nature has got going, the birds nest, the soil warms, sap rises and life springs forth all around you .

21st of March is an important milestone because it is the equinox which means ‘equal night‘ a time when day and night are of equal length. It is a significant turing point

in nature.Get your willies on and get out there.       

  You will find that being outside puts life’s niggles into proportion...even if you are grumpy, you will find it hard to remain so under the blue sky.

What I am doing on my plot:

Cutting my grass because it has started to grow.

Making my first move on weeds that are coming up. I notice that nettles seem to double in size  overnight this time of year. So I spent half an hour digging them up.

I once made some nettle soup...it was awful, so I will not try that again.

I have a small glasshouse full of seedlings which need looking after.

Pulled  my first rhubarb this week...it was lovely. I reckon that rhubarb and my soft fruit pay for my plot. My wife Jean and I have a bowl every morning for breakfast and if you reckon that is worth 50 pence bowl, that is one pound a day which is well over 300 pounds year. My two plots cost 84 pounds rent year. ( they are 11 pole plots ) So I am quids in really.   

And as always tiding up and watching. 

I have also resigned from the allotment committee this week. I have done my five years, it is time for somebody else to have a go.

What I am thinking about when digging:

Another famine in Africa....how and why have we come to this again. It just makes me so anger and sad. I spent much of my life in Africa and understand a little of what goes on.

We in the West have so much. If you just think of water on tap any time of the day or night...Am I thankful or just take it for granted?