Return of the frogs

At last, frogspawn in the pond. It's much later this year and I can't think why. We usually get loads of frogs in the pond in the first couple of weeks of February but not this year.

The pond's not been frozen for the last three weeks but it's taken them that long to arrive. But we've got a fair amount of it now. No toadspawn yet though.

In the beginning

....Was the word and the word was "garden".

We bought this place in 2002 and have worked at it ever since. Our plans are to have a beautiful outdoor environment where we can get our hands dirty, grow our own healthy food and enjoy the fruits of our labour in our own little piece of paradise.

Most of the time, when I'm not doing the day job which pays for all this, I'm working outside. If I'm inside, there's a good chance I'm cooking, eating, drinking or sleeping.

I'll add the detail as I go along but just to give a broad heads up to anyone who's interested, we've got a small orchard, a vegetable garden, a greenhouse, a herb garden, a small wood, a wildlife pond and ornamental gardens. We also keep chickens and bees.

Apart from the wood, it all started off as grassland which we've steadily chipped away at. Tonight, it's taken me around 1 hour and 45 minutes to cut the grass, seizing the opportunity of a rare dry day this summer. I hope in a couple of years time to have this down to around 45 minutes. Not an atomiclawn mower but more garen and less grassland.

I'll be posting on all of this as I work on it. And I'll be needing your encouragement and advice!