Good Morining All, lovely to read all your thoughts
, I don't envy you Tursiops2
It's pouring with rain here this morning, driech is a good descriptive scottish word for it.
Mr pheasant is fattening himself up and his plumage is coming on nicely for the breeding season, I have heard a few calls and seen a couple of territory fights, it'll be hotting up soon.
We've only seen the one hare so far, they were quite prolific last year and enormous, I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for more; I seem to remember someone saying that the more hares there are the better the summer will be, not sure about that but it would be nice to think so.
I can't believe it's February in north east scotland and the grass is growing already, the jolly old mower will be out sooner this year.
We've decided on the crops for this year, we eat a lot of leeks, onions, and garlic so I'll be planting the seeds soon. The soil here is very poor, mainly sand and shingle and what there is is only a couple of inches deep. I've tried very unsuccessfully to grow various types of carrot and potato but without much success. Even the disease resistant varieties end up with scab and the carrots are very tiny. I'm not happy to use artificial fertilisers so the compost heap has to suffice; there is an enormous pile of cow poo in the field and I'm wondering if the farmer would mind me having a barrowload or two.
We've built a couple of raised beds which have been heaped with compost so that gives a bit more depth of soil.
When I can I definitely need a greenhouse and a shed to potter in; the woodshed has to suffice for a potting shed just now.
Off for more tea.
Guardian.