Deep freeze

What a week!  Freezing cold temperatures, ground frozen, and scatterings of snow.  Plans that were previously made to sow seeds suddenly seemed laughable and a quick mental pivot was required if we were going to spend any quality time in the garden.  Luckily we’d pencilled in a couple of jobs that could be done under adverse conditions but unfortunately we were immediately stopped in our tracks when the plan to wash down and tidy the greenhouses fell at the first hurdle.

Water was frozen in the hoses and the idea of using water from the waterbutts worked until it made contact with the glass and immediately froze into solid sheets!  A quick tidy and a sweep was all that we could manage

Luckily there’s one job guaranteed to be possible whatever the weather and keep you warm at the same time.  Compost turning!  With the third bay of the compost bins empty after our  recent mulching exploits the remaining two bays that weren’t yet fully composted could be turned by leapfrogging them up the system.  Admittedly there was a solid ice crust in the top six inches but everything below was diggable and writhing with worms and other beneficial inhabitants.

More importantly rodents made an appearance and rat or no rat  it’s certainly a good way to get the heart pumping and keep warm on what turned out to be the coldest day of the year.