Project 365 day 103: April frost

I left my Tiny Tuesday photos too late today. By the time J's workshop had finished (a fun one, with Creative Folkestone, working with an artist developing an outdoor art installation for the forthcoming Triennial), and I had caught up with the washing up, the sun had gone, the light was fading, and my shots of tiny beetroot seedlings were worse than mediocre.  The lesson is obvious: washing up cannot be allowed to take priority.

This, however, is the view that greeted me when I came downstairs this morning. Low sun was casting long shadows over still frosty grass, while the sunny, melted patches were vividly green. Every morning, I go to the back door to look at the valley, the sky, the light. It's beautiful in all weathers, but I particularly like this spring morning sunlight. On clear nights, just before bed, I often go out on the balcony, above this doorway, to breathe in the peace and silence for a few moments. We have beautiful dark skies here, with bright stars and, on really dark nights, clear views of the Milky Way. 

The garden is not well kept. The grass has not yet been cut and the fruit bed on the right is an overgrown mess of last year's autumn raspberry canes, which I should have cut down long ago, and dead grass. I don't have time for everything. The rabbit proof fence is not pretty, but it's essential to serious vegetable growing here, and the row of compost bins are valuable for the garden but don't enhance the photos. I was not consulted about their location. However, there's a large vegetable bed in which P has just finished planting enough seed potatoes to feed us from midsummer till spring, and he has also been preparing beds for the brassicas, beans and squashes which will follow over the next few weeks. Onion shoots are appearing and garlic, started in pots during wet winter weather, is ready to go out. The beetroot seedlings will need a little longer, but in due course will replace the many jars of last year's pickled beetroot which P is gradually munching his way through on his morning toast.