Frog Spawn in February!

Yes, our pond is a seething orgy of frogs spawning.   This is more than two weeks earlier then the last two years!
Almond and apricot trees are close to blossoming.   I will be watching carefully for any frosty nights in case the trees need fleece to protect them.

Its sowing time again!

Yes, isn't it great when spring is around the next corner!
We now have tomato and pepper plants growing on our window sills to go eventually into the green house and polytunnel.  Cabbage and broccoli seeds sown in the polytunnel along with lots of salad seeds, leeks, and climbing French beans. In the propagator are celery, celeriac  and indoor courgette and outdoors I have sown broad beans in the gaps in the autumn sown bean beds and put in some round seeded peas (Feltham First).  I also transplanted the onion seedlings from the autumn sowing to beds (under cloches just in case!)  I have put down pieces of polycarbonate on the beds to warm up the soil for early sowing of carrots etc. Buisy already in the garden!
In the wood the coppicing is coming to an end for this season; maybe two more weeks at the most.  There is lots of space for planting new trees but we may leave the planting till next autumn as the trees we have growing from seed are still quite small.  We have lots of chestnut and some hazel timber to cut and dry for fuel and some for planking as well.
Happy days!

Capel Manor College

Yesterday about 15 students from Capel Manor College in North London came with a mini bus and trailer and loaded 3 tons of large tree trunks for the college to use in its courses.  I was a little nervous about the process but it all went without a hitch (except that I forgot to take any pictures of the process).  Its worth noting that the group was a mixed one but that a female student was the most active in moving the heavy (300lb to 400 lb) logs - to the shame of the watching boys!  The log callipers were very useful in picking up the logs.

Pictures of a snowy wood

Zero hunting rabits

All tucked up cozy in the snow!

Bees do better in the winter when it is cold

Not much solar production from these panels today I am afraid

Zero (the dog) loves he snow after the first shock 

Yes 5 or 6 inches of snow last night - protection for the plants against the cold.  Only problem for me is that it will be impossible to work in the wood till the snow melts!

Flying Saucers land again

Oh no!! another reminder of times gone by (when I had more hair and less beard!)
see the BBC One Show clip on youtube; http://youtu.be/GkA-CG_xxhU or the 20th Jan 'One Show' on BBC Iplayer

Sowing begins

Jerome our wwoofer learning to split

Sowing nuts (in January not May!)

Now the shortest day is past and the chickens are beginning to lay again my thoughts turn towards the spring!
Sowing seeds this week - Pak Choi, lettuce and cut and come again salad in the polytunnel.  Tomatoes and peppers in the propagator to plant out later in the green house (we are still picking tomatoes from the greenhouse so I haven't made the difficult decision to clear out the old plants yet!
Coppicing is going ahead in earnest in the wood with the help of our wwoofer Jerome and Shawn and  Barry (trading labour for logs)  We are starting with the Hazels this year and going on to sweet chestnuts later.   The last storm brought down a dead birch and large dead oak so there is lots of wood to use this winter.
The new solar PV is working well - happy days!