There's a pheasant in my greenhouse! and other stories

Where is this year going? I can't believe it is April already. I love the anticipation of the coming spring that the late winter months bring; watching for snowdrops and daffodils tentatively poking their heads above the soil, and those teasing days of blue skies and mild temperatures before another flurry of snow reminds us we are still in the clutches of winter.

Then, all of a sudden, the chiffchaffs are back from Africa, trees and hedgerows are becoming greener everyday and the whole season seems to have crept upon us with a shout. People around the country are already reporting sightings of swallows; perhaps the birds knew about the mini heatwave we seem to be having at the moment.

I've been spending several hours of each day down at the allotment. There is still plenty of digging to be done, and I seem to have fallen behind with the tasks despite taking on the plot in early winter. I have managed to get quite a bit done though, and the plot is gradually taking shape.

The gales we had a couple of weeks ago destroyed a couple more of my greenhouse panes, and I spent a lot of time picking up each shard of glass (as Sybil joins me on the allotment now) and putting new panes of glass up. Despite all of my hastily-acquired DIY skills, I arrived on the plot on Saturday morning to a sudden commotion inside the greenhouse. A pheasant had somehow managed to squeeze its way in and was panicking and flying about inside, desperately looking for an escape route. I quickly cornered the pesky bird and managed to pick it up, but not before it threw itself with some force at one of my larger panes. I sent the bird on its way and set to trying to fix the now gaping hole in the back of my greenhouse. This is the best I can do:

but thankfully the greenhouse is still plenty warm enough for my seedlings to germinate. Here's some I prepared earlier:

Pea Kelvedon Wonder

Sweet Pea

The sweet peas are ready to be potted on, and I finally seem to have come to an uneasy truce with the mouse living inside the greenhouse. We had an ongoing battle last month; I would plant the pea seeds and during the night, he or she would thank me for the free feast and eat the whole lot. I now leave a large scattering of peanuts on the greenhouse floor, and the little mouse seems happy with this arrangement. He/she has snaffled a few more of my sweet pea seeds, but my Kelvedon Wonder peas have germinated and will hopefully be feeding myself this time.

Parsley, Mint, Chives

The herb bed in the picture above was a tangled mess of couch grass, brambles and various other weeds whose names I do not know. I cleared the whole lot and put some concrete slabs around the outside to create a herb garden. I have cheated and bought some herb plants from the supermarket, but the other varieties I want to grown will be (hopefully) grown from seed.

The frogspawn I introduced to my pond has now hatched, and I have several happy tadpole residents. They get free room and board in exchange for mopping up the pesky slugs when they are fully grown.

Tiny tadpoles

Picture of some soil (aka wildflower seeds)

Next to the pond I have sown a huge amount of wildflower seeds. I love wildflowers, and the bees and butterflies the packet claims they will attract. Whether they grow or not remains to be seen. I will keep you updated.

I have also finished the strawberry bed. I would love to learn to make my own jam, so I bought loads of strawberry plants from the Aldi and dedicated a whole raised bed to them. Apparently the weed control fabric will keep the fruits off the soil and help prevent them rotting. It won't stop the birds or the wasps getting to them first, though.

On the way to and from the allotment, I pass a delightful area of my estate that has been planted with tons of daffodils, cowslips and primroses. They are really in their prime right now and look amazing; if only more estates were planted up like this in my town.

Thanks for reading :)