Business as Usual

13 - 15 March 2020

For us, not a lot changed with the declaration of an emergency.  We had an unusual number of social engagements in the next week, which were all cancelled (including Dave's birthday), but otherwise we carried on as before.

 Interesting halos round the sun (showing up our grubby gutters, unfortunately)

 Another day, another gap, more gravel ...

 This is the aftermath of me deciding to save the lettuces by setting a beer trap for slugs in a terracotta bowl - shown flung aside and a large hole to the left, where it was set.  Either we have enormous, excavating slugs, or a boozy mammal that spilt some and just kept digging (after all, the pubs are closed!).  Whichever, the lettuces didn't make it.

 The cauliflower, however, has outgrown even the largest slugs.  We hope.

 More turnips

 A sudden host of black iris, in a part of the field that hasn't had them before.  Glad they've relocated, their previous patch is now under paving.

 Lots of sprouting leaves on the fastest-growing vine, and all twelve are now showing signs of life.  Hurrah!

 A Bad Thing.  

We've been looking out hopefully for frogs or toads coming to inhabit the pond, so it was horrible to find that the first one we see was quite clearly dead.  No marks on it, maybe just exhaustion - we are a long way from any other water source.

 Dave fished it out of the water, and gave it back to nature.  We were very sad until that evening, when we saw a live toad swim across the pond and hide in the lining.  At least they've reached us.

This is quite a clever water filter on the mains supply.  It de-chlorinates and pH balances the water, so if we don't get enough rain to fill our tanks - and we are feeling increasingly despondent that this might be so - we can still top up the pond and water the plants without killing them all with chlorine.

 Work towards getting our permit seems to be progressing.  Constantine sent this schematic for me to add a few details he didn't gather when he was here.  I expect the virus will stall this process, though.

A little light relief - a rainy day in the studio, painting a hyper-coloured cabbage from the garden.