Very first signs of new growth

As the snow melts, there is an amazing amount of greenery left looking healthy and vigorous, including young leaves of the edible hedgerow greens, Alexanders. Apparently the Romans brought them to the UK as a pot herb, personally I'm not very keen on them as they have a very scented flavour, but many people do like them.

I met another neighbour this past week, one of the ladies who keep horses in a neighbouring field. She explained that the big dip in the middle of the Oak Tree land was caused by a bomb in the second world war, which was a complete surprise. I'm planning to turn it into a pond/water reservoir in years to come (subject to planning permission again...). This would give the combined benefits of a wider range of wildlife to keep pests in check (for example frogs eating slugs) as well as a source of water for irrigation.

We were both delighted when I cautiously asked if I could use some of their strawy manure, which by all accounts has been maturing for many years. She was delighted and asked if I wanted to be paid to take it away, and I was delighted that she didn't want to charge me. It seems kind of crazy that such a valuable resource is treated as waste, but in this case I am most certainly not complaining!