It’s always a good feeling when the first snowdrops appear. There’s been one brave little soldier flowering on his own by our backdoor for several days now. I don’t quite know how he came to be there all on his own but there he is.

I noticed today that the big clump at the back of the house have appeared, so that’s a good sign, though I often wish they were in a place where we could see them more easily from indoors.

As today was another nice day, I took the opportunity to do some more work on the vegetable beds. I managed to dig the manure into the remaining big ones, and tidied most of the small ones. I suffered no ill effects from my previous digging, other than a blister on my thumb, so hopefully after todays efforts I should be nicely back in my stride, and ready for the jobs ahead.

I’ll leave them a few more weeks now and then dig them over again, by which time they should be ready for planting this years crops, which I hope will produce more fruit and vegetables than they did last year.

On lovely days like today, when I get out into the fresh air, where the sky is blue, the sun is shining, the birds are singing and I can smell the soil, I tend to get a bit ahead of myself, in thinking that it is nearly Spring. I do the same thing every year, and it’s a mistake for in truth I fear we have a way to go yet. I have to keep telling myself, one snowdrop doesn’t make it Spring.