When the cold days become so cold that I can’t feel my hands
through my gloves and the icy wind makes my ears ache, or when it rains the so
hard that it stings your cheeks...then it’s time to retreat to the greenhouse
or shed for what I call ‘potting time’.
Today was one of those days and although I set out full of
good intentions, I had only got through half the jobs that I had planned to do
in the garden before I retreated to the greenhouse with a frothy coffee, the
seed catalogue, and a couple of homemade mince pies.
I use the term ‘potting’ quite loosely to cover any number
of greenhouse activities, many of which do not involve potting up plants at all
but can occasionally result in me dozing off while listening to Gardeners’
Question Time. So, although there was not even the slight glimmer of sunshine
to radiate through the greenhouse, it was still cosy and dry, out of the wind
and rain, and as popular as ever with my farmyard friends.
The chickens never miss an opportunity to join me in the
greenhouse and I often find myself trying to step over a bunch of queuing hens
all waiting for their turn to take a dust bath in there. Toby, the farm cat,
likes to snuggle up on the sheep fleece that I use to protect my tender plants
or lay on my knee and purr.
Blossom, the little blue hen, also likes to ensure that she doesn’t
miss out on anything edible, so my attempts to read the seed catalogue and eat
a mince pie were thwarted.
Still. It’s a great alternative to shovelling manure any
day!