Spring has Sprung

I went down the potting shed on Sunday in search of something to store my seed potatoes in.  I'd bought three lots on the Saturday, first earlies, second earlies and main crop.  Now I don't know where to store the second earlies and main crop, they need to be kept in a cool light place.  The first earlies are currently in egg boxes in the kitchen where I am hoping they will chit nicely.  The other two sets are sitting in the dining room but they can't stay there permanently.  I will continue to ponder this problem as last year I kept them in the dark in the potting shed, but that produced long white roots which is not good.

My sortie down the garden tempted me to do a bit of weeding around the potting shed and in last year's cabbage/broccoli patch.  I started to turn over the new vegetable patch but that required a bit more back breaking work, although it is turning over nicely.  I'm not impatient about creating new borders, I cover an area of lawn with cardboard which I then cover with bark and then I stand my potato growing containers on it through the summer and winter.  By the time spring comes around the cardboard has disintegrated, the grass has died back and the bark just digs in.

I didn't do much more around the garden despite the sunshine as my eyes are being tormented with Blepharistis at the moment and I didn't want to make them worse.  It was disheartening though to walk back to the house and see the amount of work that was needed in the flower beds.  I never clear my garden out over the winter, I like to leave places for the good bugs to hibernate and I love to see what new comes up in the spring.  So last night I was pleased to see my gardener had been, doesn't that sound grand.  He only mows my lawns though, they are so long and with working full-time, being away some weekends, it was becoming a chore to keep them mowed.  Now it just happens, and when it does everything looks so much better, and it encourages me to get out and potter, if the weather permits.