The Sun Makes a Welcome Appearance!

A Glimpse of the Sun

Jacob picking radicchio in the sun

Yesterday brought with it a rare appearance of the sun – and how welcome it was. A light frost still lay across the garden, but not enough to stop us harvesting salad leaves for the bags as the first light crept over the beds. It was colder than in recent days, but the air was drier and brighter, and somehow that made all the difference – a far more pleasant start to the morning.

The radicchio we picked was the last of the season. It has been filling salad bags and gracing our shelves as whole heads since last August, and it’s served us well. Few plants cope as gracefully with sub-zero temperatures, but even radicchio eventually bows to winter and turns to mush. Thankfully, there is plenty more growing under cover in the polytunnels, and as we move towards the end of February and the daylight begins to return, the leaves will surge into growth in what we fondly call the ‘salad storm’ – that wonderful moment of sudden abundance.

Earlier in the week told a different story. Tuesday saw us huddled in the caravan, gathered around the gas heater, while rain fell steadily outside on one of the bleakest days of the year so far. But winter has its own kind of work, and we spent the day planning together as a team – shaping the year ahead. We’re guided by the Japanese principle of Kaizen – the idea that small, steady improvements, made consistently, create real and lasting change.

When the weather allows, the garden still calls us outside. Our hot beds in the propagation polytunnel are due for renewal with fresh woodchip and green leafy waste. As the bacteria get to work breaking it down, heat is released, creating the perfect environment to begin the year’s seedlings. Our comfrey and rhubarb patches have been given some much-needed care to set them up well for the seasons ahead, and Martin has been putting the finishing touches to a new pergola in the garden area – the place where we pause for coffee breaks and shared lunches when the weather is kind. We’ll share photos soon, once it’s complete.