When will it be Spring?

It may still be cold outside but the first signs of spring are evident – if you look hard. Even without venturing outside the postman brings the first reminders that Christmas has been and gone and it's time to think ahead to warmer longer days. The seed catalogues arrive in abundance!

Early daffodils and primulas, followed by tulips, bring a real sense of arrival – the light at the end of the tunnel. Finally, wellies can be exchanged for gardening shoes, thick waterproof gardening gloves for a cotton variety, and eventually – before you know it – spring has sprung!

At the moment... this is all wishful thinking!! Outside today, is pretty awful! It started well, with bright sunshine and temperatures in double figures, but by lunch time.... rain,drizzle, rain. Tomorrow however, promises to be a better day, which is great because the Saturday Pumpkin Patch class love to visit all the farm animals, the vegetable garden and the greenhouse, just to spot the signs of spring. Last week, we prepared the seed potatoes and this week we'll check the wormery and compost bin and tidy up the greenhouse.

My favourite spring flowers...

but how do you stop them from falling over??

Any suggestions?

Autumn is here!! Where did the summer go!?

Over half term, I've been sorting out my photos... really time consuming but a great reminder of the summer just gone! It wasn't all bad!! the sun did shine and vegetables grew - I have the evidence!

Over the past few weeks at The Pumpkin Patch we've been clearing the raised beds for the winter.... but there's a lot left. The leeks will soon be used for Welsh cawl (leek soup), the Swiss chard is still growing and I've already had some Brussels Sprouts - though the rest of the family would rather leave them in the ground, they're not big fans!

Sunday, I went (because I thought I should!) to clear the last of the cosmos and wild flower garden... I started but I couldn't bring myself to tear down the big, blousy display of chaotic colour just because it was November. So the chaos of flowers remain and will do until the first frost or the heavy rain gets the better of them!

Above, a pretty good crop of onions out to dry! Until the rain came! Oh well, at least I tried!