Spring... it feels like it's been a long time coming

Finally the rain has stopped a bit. Well, it did rain yesterday, but we've had a few lovely days. It's given me a chance to do a lot in the garden, which has been totally wonderful ( if a little stiff making of the old body!)
So after a bit of hard work, it was nice this morning to just have a meander around the garden, with the camera,  and look at the signs of spring appearing.
When it's sunny like it is now, this is one of my favourite times of year. I'm not a huge fan of winter up here. It seems very long, wet and damp. I actually wish it did get freezing cold with a bit of snow!

I'm much happier when I can see signs of new life appearing everywhere.

Plum blossom

 Cherry blossom - about to burst open

Clematis, almost in bloom

Bluebells springing up everywhere

 And one of my absolute favourites... the fresias are out. As I sit here typing I can smell them!

And it's not only flowers. The asparagus season is just starting in my veggie garden. There are 5 spears almost ready for eating. Something ate the top off the first one - it looked like it could have been a mouse?? So I've covered the others as they come through and it seems to be working a treat. I LOVE asparagus.

There's some spring greens, which I actually grew this for the chooks! The garlic is also doing well, as are the Alderman peas which have been growing all winter. Oh and the potatoes are coming up beautifully too.  Apart from that I didn't plant much in the veggie garden, because I knew I was going to have to buy in some top soil or something as the beds are looking a bit low. So really, I just wanted pretty much empty beds at this time of year so it was easy to fill them up. This is a job for tomorrow or Tuesday as I need Lloyd ( who is away on a writer's course this weekend) to drive the jeep with the trailer on the back - I can drive forward with a trailer, but have never mastered reverse! It should be fun!

Oh, and my egg sign? What a raging success that's been! The eggs have been selling like hot cakes, mostly to people from our wee village which is lovely, as they could become regular customers. Already quite a few have said they'll bring the box back to be refilled, which is great. I hope they all like them. I've also met some lovely people. One old chap came to meet all the chickens with me and gave them a pat. Another lady and I swapped lemon curd recipes. It's been so nice.

So, in 4 days my lovely girls have earned enough  money to pay for their feed for the whole of this month! I had to go down to the verge this morning and rub out the "For Sale" part and change it to "sorry all sold out, more tomorrow" It felt really good!  What I've also realised is that I have to keep back some eggs for ourselves and enough to put down at The Acorn, for guests. It's getting really booked up now which is amazing. It's shaping up to be it's busiest year, ever!

All in all a lovely time of year!