Here we are again, about midway between the spring equinox and summer solstice, at least in the northern hemisphere, with the garden once again bursting back into full life.
We may have to visit a Henge today to celebrate!
At least the Asparagus has been enjoying our wet spring weather, even if the seedlings have been suffering from the unseasonal cold.
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The start of February marks the traditional Druid festival of Imbolc, celebrating the beginning of spring, being about halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox.
Of course these days, Imbolc is some six weeks ahead of what we now tend to think of as the official start of spring in March, but nonetheless, this is the time when the first earliest signs of the garden waking up start to appear.
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As Christmas edged ever closer, and with the British Larch cladding and roofing membrane now on, it was time to battle November’s almost constant rain and wind to get water tight before the snow.
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With the structural frame of walls and roof safely constructed, it was time for the cladding and roofing membrane.
Like the pig sties, we again used British Larch cladding supplied by Vastern Timber, which had recently arrived across the fields.
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With a level baseplate constructed, the structural frame could start to be built, and the shape of the old barn began to re-emerge from the ashes of its demolition.
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Having safely demolished the old barn, and removed the asbestos, before it fell down, it was time to start preparing the foundations.
Since preparation is key, the first act was actually to install a new field gate in the paddock to allow access to get materials deliver to site.
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Last year, we rebuilt the pig sties, turning them into useful sheds.
This year we are tackling the Barn, which has miraculously survived the last two winters without falling down completely, although we did lose part of the roof.
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January tends to get a bad rap as a month.
We blame Pilot for letting the rot set in when they sang in their 1975 No1 hit single “January, sick and tired, you’ve been hanging on me”.
But as Josephine Nuese, author of The Country Garden pointed out, gardening really begins in January, with the dream. So come last year’s cold snap, or this year’s unseasonably mild weather, we kind of quite like January here at The Secret Acre.
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The Secret Acre 