Oh what a stunning day.

This morning we woke to a heavy frost and clear blue skies, but strangely it wasn’t at all cold.  There didn’t seem to be that chill factor that normally accompanies a frost.  It is quite strange, it’s been like it for the last couple of days and according to the weather forecast it is supposed to continue for the next week.  That’s another SEVEN days!  I shall get out there and make the most of it.  I need to work towards getting the garden spring ready as it is rapidly approaching.  I should be sowing my pepper and chilli seeds in 3 weeks…

It’s starting to get to that exciting pre-spring stage.  The air somehow seems fresher, although I don’t know how much that has to do with Hubby the Un-Gardener mowing the lawns the other day.  The garden beds are slowly being sorted out.  Every year I say I’ll keep on top of the weeds, but it never happens and so I have to work my way around the patch and sort out each one, and then adding organic material and extra nutrients and goodies to replace what the weeds stole.  And things are starting to stir among the plants that live in my garden permanently.  Spring is coming.

I decided the day was too good not to share, so I made a wee movie and posted it on YouTube.  You can check it out HERE.  Its just a short little thing with a bit of fun in it – courtesy of the Joeyosaurus.

The first project I took on was the strawberries.  The silly things were starting to flower already.  The problem is it is too early for that and then there was the little thing called weeds.  You couldn’t see the strawberry plants for the weeds.  The up side that it was mainly dock – ordinarily my nemesis, but in my strawberry patch their big leaves had acted like some kind of mulch and suppressed most other weeds, and because the soil was soggy from the weeks of rain we have had then the long dock tap roots slipped out quite easily.

So after two days my 72 strawberry plants had been liberated, although I removed all the flowers I could see so the plants could concentrate on getting ready for the spring and make fatter strawberries when the time comes.  I heeled in the runners into seed trays and when the weather packs in again I’ll sit in my wee shed and pot them up.  I’m going to keep enough to replace a third of my plants next year as apparently strawberry plants are only at their best for three years.  The rest of the runners I’ll give away.

The next task was pulling down the long dead peas and clearing out the bed which will be home to the tomatoes before we know it!  An easy job and it’s good to see another bed ready.

By now I had become completely absorbed in taking care of the garden that I moved on to the next task that had actually been causing me concern for months.  The Rhubarb.  It wasn’t doing well in the summer and lush is hardly the best way to describe the growth.  Sickly and pathetic was a more accurate description.  I suspected that it was it was too low in the bed and the roots were getting to a certain depth and met the water table and rotted.

So I dug them up – all five of them and confirmed my suspicions. None of the roots went below a certain point and were all soft on the tips.  I took the opportunity to thoroughly clear out the weeds – every last trace of undesirable root.  Then I loaded the bed with sheep poo pellets, blood and bone, as splash of ash, general fertiliser, compost and numerous loads of soil to raise the level of the bed to something the rhubarb could thrive in and replanted the crowns in their new and improved home.  I hope they like it.

Then as I dragged my weary body to the house I noticed the turnips were getting big.  We needed to have turnips for tea.  So I whipped a few of the larger ones out and headed inside for the day, a bit achy, but ever so pleased with myself.

But there are heaps more sunny days to come, so who knows what I’ll do tomorrow.

Come again soon – I can’t wait to get out there in the fresh air again – it’s so invigorating.

Sarah the Gardener  : o )

Don’t forget to check out my movie:  SARAH THE GARDENER ON YOUTUBE