And The Heat Goes On

What a day...I stripped down to my jumper - no woolly hat, no coat, no scarf. Not even a breath of a breeze, the birds were singing, just waiting for the bees now, haven't yet spotted any queens but hopefully will do soon - they love the pussy willow.

Of course, as I write this, it's now down to zero because of the still, clear skies but give me a settled high any day to the normal wet and windy Islandmagee weather. 

Finished the veg beds, cleared, weeded and topped up with our own compost (which will be full of weeds but easy enough to hoe with the veg in straight lines). I'm going to cover them with clear plastic to warm the soil up and this should help germinate the weedlings in the compost that I can then weed out. I often wonder though - can the worms breathe? Must googly it and see.

Also pruned the far apple trees which should have been done earlier - here's hoping they'll perform better this year after last year's woeful yield - mind you, it was an awful year.

Moved more self sown bits and pieces to the newly cleared bank on the lane - foxgloves, aquilegia, feverfew, quaking grass & centranthus & some primoses that needed dividing. It faces north so here's hoping  it will fill out nicely.

Then spent the end of the afternoon in the cottage garden - what a challenge - it really needs a complete revamp - was first planted in 1998 so the thugs have taken over and a lot of plants need renewing - just not enough hours in the day.

Under the willow arch - bulbs appearing everywhere - the anticipation.