River Cottage in Spring

On Saturday we spent another lovely day visiting River Cottage HQ celebrating the return of Spring. There were talks and demonstrations on growing vegetables by Mark Diacono Head Gardener at RC, cooking seasonal vegetables and making pasta by Tim Maddams, Head Chef at RC Canteen and an illuminating talk by John Wright, wild food expert, on collecting sea weed and foraging by the coast. There were stalls filled with gardening paraphernalia, a talk by Dave Wiscombe on keeping bees, which always fascinates me, plus the usual stuff, yummy food and drink, animals, including baby lambs and for entertainment the Uplyme Morris Men.

I absolutely love visiting RCHQ, it has such a lovely atmosphere and is filled with a gorgeous light.

Talking of light, on the way home above Bridport, I saw a rainbow. It's the first rainbow I have ever seen from start to finish. In other words I saw the whole thing. It was an amazing sight seeing it coming up out of the ground, so to speak.

We are all reved up and ready for Spring now. I have planted the garlic cloves into modules and popped them in the summer house. The bed which had the bonfire on it, has had the ash dug in and compost added. I have raked it and we put the new cloches on top to warm the soil up ready for planting. We have marked out new beds, ready for the turf to be stripped off - exciting times ahead, if not a little back breaking!

The Scent of Spring

This week we have had the most incredible weather. Although there is still a little nip in the air, we have had wall to wall sunshine for the whole week.

The sunshine has brought the Spring flowers into bloom with their soft colours and scents filling the air.

I tided the front garden this weekend and was blown away by the scent coming from the Skimmia. I had never noticed it before probably because I never spend any time in the front garden. It's one of those wasted spaces, with scrubby grass and a car parked on it for much of the time. I am at a loss as to what to do with it. Where is Matt James when you need him?

Hyacinth

Skimmia