At Last!

It rained heavily first thing this morning but something was different at the PLOT today. The first cowslips were flowering and some newly laid frogspawn lay glistening in the pond. Perhaps the earth worms had thawed suddenly and all breathed out at once because Spring was undeniably in the air! The birds were in full voice too, and at lunchtime this beauty – until today a dormant chrysalis, over wintering in one of the corners of the greenhouse – was warming new wings in the sunshine:

In no time at all Gary and Steve had spun Gladys (our greenhouse) round, creating much more space and an opportunity to sort out which vegetables could now be planted out and what needed further protection. Protection not just from the cold nights, but the midnight raids by gorging shrews. Shrews seem to be particularly partial to sweetpeas, pumpkins and beans, leaving us nothing but a trail of devastation to find next morning. We are wise to them this year (although we still got busted). We’re netting all the pots and their tender cargo.