End Of Month View ~ March 2012

Just as I was about to turn the bedside light off  and drift off to sleep last night himself observed that he thought that there was a spider on the ceiling directly above my head. Now he should know that it would have been wiser for him to keep silent but his comment saw us swapping places, in case the spider should could dangle down in my direction overnight. Swapping places is what the months seem to have done, with March being unseasonably warm whilst April has got off to a chilly start.

The main news of the month from the allotment is that bunnies have got on to my plot! I knew that they were in the vicinity but up to now had not noticed any tell tale signs of their presence until a couple of weeks ago. The tell tale evidence -  the green shoots of garlic and shallots had been seriously nibbled around the edges. Having grown both crops for some time with no problems I ruled out the usual suspects and after speaking to my allotment neighbours, the verdict is that the interloper is a rabbit. Needless to say efforts will now need to be made to thwart this creature from doing any further damage. Elsewhere on the plot work has been going on preparing the raised beds and ground for this years crops. There is not much in the way of edible pickings although great excitement when towards the end of the month I noticed that the purple sprouting broccoli is doing its stuff. There is some potentially most exciting news affecting our allotment community but for now my lips are sworn to secrecy. Maybe I will be able to divulge all next month.

The warm weather resulted in a sudden rather than imperceptible launch into from winter into spring. I prefer the latter option but the weather gods decided otherwise this year. There are flowerings ahead of their time including bluebells which I always associate with May. Giving me most excitement at the moment is the pear tree we planted last month. It is always so exciting watching leafless branches morphing into growing and green. Hopefully there may be the first fruits later this year but thereby hangs another tale.

The greenhouse continues to fill so no doubt soon the fun and games of moving an ever increasing numbers of plants to fit in the same space will begin. I am trying to keep track of my sowings on the blog using the pages facility but have already fallen behind in recording. Will have to remedy this situation soon. March was remarkable in that I did not bring the fleece out once to give the greenhouse residents overnight protection although the tomato and sweet pepper seedlings have come into the house for the hours of darkness.

Finally I can congratulate myself on my self restraint this month as I have only one new plant purchase to report - a chaenomeles speciosa 'Geisha Girl'. April might prove to be a different proposition with at least one tempting plant sale on the horizon.

Thanks as always to Helen over at 'The Patient Gardener's Weblog', who came up with the excellent idea of the end of month view.