Standing back for better perspective

As spring presses on, so do we. There has been so much activity in the garden today that we have had to stand further back to take a shot than includes all of the patch. Todays newcomers were the beetroots, swedes, strawberries and runner beans.

The main recycling activity has been on the cloches where, in addition to lemonade bottles, we are now using coat hangers and shelf brackets to support polythene sheeting. Time will tell whether this works or not.

The photomontage helps reassure that there is some change.

Signs of Life

April is now here and so are its showers. Mainly hail-showers so far rather than any gentle raindrops bringing water to the soil. However, it signifies spring and the tension it brings – will any thing grow ?

We now have clear signs of life. In the cloche five little lines of green have spread from side to side. Each identical sprout of two leaves giving no clues as to what they are. The garlic bulb from Tesco has sprouted and has been moved outdoors.

To try and protect them, and to keep the recycling ethos, they have been given their own individual greenhouses. These fairy greenhouses, courtesy of 2 litre lemonade bottles seem also to be a useful defence from predators such as slugs or chickens.

A perennial question remains. Can one garden and recycle and remain fashionable ? I have considered this deeply and now have photographic proof that the answer, quite simply, is no.

Despite the aesthetic problems the patch continues to grow and now starts to resemble a vegetable patch.