Spring at Ley Farm

It’s amazing just how quickly everything has started to turn green around us. It feels like only a few weeks ago that we were still relying on the fire to keep warm in the evenings, and now the shrubs and trees are turning the garden different shades of green, and the spring flowers are out in force, even growing across the concrete of our courtyard.

Sitting outside, we can hear the high-pitched baas of the lambs in the nearby fields, and it’s lovely when our local farmers move them into the fields surrounding our house and we can see them playing around. You can tell the weather’s improving though, when you see the cows outside. They’re normally kept in  the barns until the rains have stopped and the ground is firm enough underfoot to avoid turning into a mud bath. We’ve already been able to meet next door’s calves as they take great interest in us doing any work in the orchard and wood (next to their field). I think even the pup is getting used to them peering over the fence, as she’s started to try and play with them from a safe distance!! 

The orchard seems to be later in blossoming than last year though. A photo from the same time last year showed the plum and pear trees in full blossom – this year only one tree has come out so far. Let’s hope this means they won’t be impacted by a late frost and so we’ll have a good harvest.

The other sign that Spring is here is left by our resident birds. Gradually we find a build-up of long twigs around the garden, where the birds have taken them to build nests, and dropped them on the way. The worst place is along the front of the listed cottage. The crows nest around the roof and chimney (you can just see the twigs sticking out against the roof on the first photo), and drop a crazy amount of twigs along the path. We’ve found a lot more sheep fleece around this year too – I suspect the birds have found the slug barriers we made around the hostas! 

During the week we built a new pea frame in our kitchen garden, and taken a chance with the weather to plant out our mangetout (being away this weekend meant it was one less tray to water). We’ve piled the base of the plants with eggshells to try and keep the slugs away, and have put up a small fence around the edge of the bed to try and keep the pheasants, rabbits and mice away. Just in case though, we’ve planted a few more seeds out as contingency. I guess you can never have too many mangetout, right?