A spring in my step

Or rather, THE spring in my step. Spring as in the long awaited season which is well on its way. It's been a busy day today, so here is the news...

First of all, what's this? A modern art installation maybe?

Or an elaborate bee-hive for enormous bees?

No, of course not! It's loo rolls stuck together with masking tape. Otherwise known as 'Denise's Home-crafted Root Trainers for Beans, Peas and Sweetcorn.' It's recycling in its purest form - cheap, useful AND biodegradable. However, if someone from the Tate Modern is reading this and wants to make me an offer, well, then my 'art' can be whatever you want it to be. And if a giant bee is reading this and thinking, 'Hmmm, nice penthouse,' then I've clearly inhaled some hallucinogenic spores in the greenhouse today...

I washed out many pots this morning. And when I say 'many', then 'many' I mean. There was a minor contretemps with one of those big, fat, hairy-legged, 'I-can-bench-push-the-weight-of-a-hippo' spiders where I screamed a bit and he/she/it made a run for it TOWARDS me, and then AWAY from me when I did a bit more screaming but other than that the pot cleaning went well.

And then, I spent a very pleasant afternoon in a sunny greenhouse, singing along to my pink radio, sowing the first seeds of 2009. I had to do a considerable amount of planning first to decide what to put in today because this year I'm determined to get to grips with successional sowing in order to avoid the problems of the last couple of years when we've flung everything in in one fell swoop and found ourselves with a glut come harvest time.

'Another parsnip with your parsnip, dear?'
'Why yes, that would be delightful. Maybe I could have a parsnip or two on the side?'
'Of course. And for pudding?'
'Why, parsnip of course. Unless we've any courgette left?'
'No. Only parsnip, I fear.'
'So did I.'

So today I have planted pointy cabbage, red cabbage, cauliflower, leek, pepper, jalapeno pepper (so Andy can re-create his Pizza Express Mount Etna moment in the privacy of our own home), cherry tomatoes, stripey tomatoes, aubergine, mixed salad leaves, peas, runner beans and a big tray of basil so I can have a go at making pesto. And on the flower front I planted some sweet peas but only because I went a bit overboard with my home-crafted root trainers.

The hens, meanwhile, continued to dig over our new raised bed. Not that it needed digging over.
'Quick! Get down! She's seen us!' hissed Mrs Miggins.
'She won't see me,' said the cunning Mrs Poo. 'Not with my head buried in the ground.'
'Ah,' said Mrs Pumphrey, 'the old emu trick.'

Once the seeds were watered and the ones that needed putting in the propagator were propagated, I went indoors to cook dinner and make some scones.
We had parsnip for dinner. We had other stuff as well, like chicken and roast potatoes (the remaining few of our crop from last year) broccoli and peas, but I thought you'd like to see how big our parsnips got last season.

What's that song? 'Long ones, short ones, some as big as your head...'
'That's a coconut,' said Mrs Slocombe.
'No. It's definitely a parsnip,' I said. And that was my day. And it was FAB!!