The past couple of days have been DRY
and the mud is drying up too. Suddenly the grass has grown a tiny bit - perhaps not quite as fast as the sheep are eating it. Suddenly plants which have lain sullen and slow are shooting upwards, we've caught the mice that were destroying the new shoots, and it looks like we have a growing season.
I managed not to sow too early, at least with the more important and time-critical crops. I did sow flowers a bit early though and I currently have trays of fast growing garden plants which are too tender to go outside yet, with night temps well below freezing. In particular I have 29 dahlias in 2 1/4" pots which are desperate to be moved up to 4" pots, but even though I use square pots so you can fit more in a tray than with round ones, 4" pots take up considerably more space under the grow lights than the smaller ones do. There are at least 10 other types of flowers ready to be potted on any day now, to say nothing of the peppers and aubergines which seem enormous, chillis, tomatoes and cucumbers which are not far behind. Even though we bought 3 extra grow lights (stoically ignoring the advice on cannabis cultivation) and we have one large one already, there is still not enough space for tender plants.
I also have broad beans which I sowed about 3 weeks ago in the tunnel, now peeping through, leeks, spring onions, radish, cauliflowers, land cress and lamb's lettuce growing away, and peas and mizuna sown
It's still too early here for potatoes, squashes and french and runner beans though.
I love this time of year. I'm just hoping that if we are ill, we do it at different times so the crops and livestock are all fed and watered, waiting for us to eat when we recover