Sunshine

It's extraordinary what two days of sunshine can do to the garden.  Even the courgettes, which have not exactly been happy for some time, look happier this evening.  Yesterday, for the first time since we started cutting up the bottom half of the garden, we were able to actually just sit in the garden, just enjoying it for its own sake.  The Broad Beans are starting to be generous in size, the Salad Queen's leaves are blooming in productivity and the tomatoes are positively running wild.

Since I last posted, it has mainly been work that has taken up my time, and I was very disappointed on my day off last Wednesday to have spent much of my time eliminating a virus from the Salad Queen's PC.  This weekend, however, allowed me to catch up and more.  First thing Saturday I was in the Southern bed eradicating yet more bamboo, and it is while I was welly deep in roots and ivy that The Wife tottered out on her high heeled, Jimmy Choo special diamond encrusted Wellingtons to ask if I fancied a trip to Middle Farm http://www.middlefarm.com/ to have a look at Chooks?

Now, forgive your narrator's scepticism, but he knows the difference between a genuine enquiry and a de facto order, so I set aside the spade and fork and off we went.   Middle Farm is a great place to look at Chickens, and they sell Point of Lay, so it was not an entirely academic visit.  The Salad Queen took a fancy to Blue Haze and we also got a good look at some coops.

Back in the garden on Sunday, we enjoyed the fantastic weather.

I don't know what this tree is, prior to cutting back the bamboo it was hidden in a dank, dark corner of the garden.  Since we have cleared that corner out, it has come into its own, we lovely dark glossy leaves and little yellow buds.





It is good to just appreciate being outside sometimes.  We made ourselves comfortable in the shade at the end of the garden:

Anyway, all this frantic cutting back of bamboo and general clearing up of the area is because this is the area that we have been planning to place the coop in.  It was in the afternoon of Saturday that The Wife went on-line and now she has done it - the chicken coop and run are ordered and will be, all being well, with us this week.  After that, it will be the chickens - Blue Haze or Speckeldey?  We don't know yet, but we are all very excited.

Goodness knows what Ruby will make of it all.