Last weekend another hour was spent out in the garden in the cold and damp but it was worth it. As you can see the beds at the left-hand side of the garden were looking initially untidy. After about an hours work they now look half reasonable. There’s overwintering garlic in the end of the bed nearest the fence and opposite that some rhubarb being forced under an upturned tub with bricks on it. Underneath the plank that’s come off the raised bed is a pregnant frog! The question is will it be nice enough weather to finish the remaining bed by the pond at the bottom of the garden this weekend?

Talking of rhubarb (Above: the result of forcing the plant a couple of years ago; lovely red stalks!) in an old gardening book we once learnt about a place called the Rhubarb Triangle (aka The Tusky Triangle) in West Yorkshire where the plant in grown and forced in dark barns and picked by candlelight (as not to turn the stalks green). Fact not fiction! More about that here and here.