Has spring finally sprung?

I love today because everyone comes out of the woodwork after the winter. Today is subs day so we were up early ready to pay our yearly fee and get some work done on our plot.I arrived and paid our fee to Dave the Plod and briefly caught up with the gang, several of whom I haven’t seen in a few months. Even if the notoriously fickle British weather decides this isn’t spring, today marks the start of the allotment year. Everyone was busy preparing their plots and planting seeds in their greenhouses. As I opened up the shed, I spotted Will had dropped off our new herb boxes. They are absolutely stunning. Now to work out where to put them!

I ambled down to the chickens who seemed to be happy to see me for a change. I topped up their feeder and spread the usual oats and sunflower seeds. The sunflower seeds still seem to be the treat of choice at the moment. I don’t know why they randomly change their preferences but it keeps us on our toes!Whilst I was in the coop, I noticed the cherry tree has started to Bloom. I can’t quite believe how well it has done considering its substantially covered with the coop roof and the chickens enjoy scratching the ground around it. I will continue to train the cherry tree to cover the far side of the coop and hopefully this year it will give us a few cherries!I bought a beautiful blue hydrangea yesterday and dropped it off in the shed. I plan to plant it out when it’s warm enough and the weather has decided to stop playing tricks.I also spent a few minutes watering the lavender, rosemary and blue flower bush all of which seemed a little droopy. Hopefully they will perk up in the warmth of the shed today. The blueberry is looking better after I moved it inside and I gave it another good watering to make sure it continues to thrive.Before I left I had a check of the new trees. Three of them are looking well and have started to bud and develop leaves. The last one looks a bit dicey. Not sure if it will survive or is a late bloomer.As an added bonus, the Braeburn tree which had a very severe pruning, is starting to show signs of life with a few blossom buds and small leaves.Jobs for tomorrow include finishing digging the bottom of the plot over, feeding the chickens, planting the potatoes and onions (yes I know it’s extremely late!) and plant the new herb boxes. And who knows, I may just sit back and enjoy the sunshine