Muddyboots

Follow the fortunes of Muddyboots & Family on their East Yorkshire farm which has changed from dairy farm to luxury ice cream manufacture

Thursday 18 March 2010

Nest boxes and lawn mowers

I am still coughing away here, brain still feels as though it is stuffed to the gunnels with dense cotton wool, not that l am totally spaced out mind you, just a tadge 'woolly'.

The weather is still improving, such a relief after the coldest winter for 30 years, the daffodils are a last emerging into flower, we might even have to get the lawn mower out to give the Caravan Club site a quick whiz over carefully avoiding the wet bits & boggy bottoms! The hard winter has taken its toil on many of the pot plants on the terrace, the standard lavenders and date palms seem to be well and truly dead, they are no more with no sign of greenness anywhere, shame about that but l will have to look out for some more 'exotic' plants once the fear of late frosts have gone, we are pretty fortunate as we have a garden center outlet, who are also one of our customers, that have a large selection of tropical looking but totally hardy plants. Strange but the olive tree has taken no harm at all.


The woodland planting has in its turn suffered too from the low temperatures & winter blizzards together with those prolonged rabbit attacks resulting in replacing the dead saplings with slightly large plants. Last year, we had to put extra long rabbit guards on all the trees as the rabbits were stripping the bark above the plastic. This year, we have rather a lot of bird boxes to put up around the farm, plus a couple of owl boxes, though the barn owl in the back cow shed seems to be managing OK in the eaves!

The ice cream parlour is now open 7 days a week; orders for ice cream are starting to come in rather nicely from our wholesale customers as the tourists start to emerge after the long winter; the caravan parks are once again open and the coastal resorts are becoming busier with day trippers, or as they say in Yorkshire they have 'comfur-day', together with the early holiday makers taking advantage of the spring weather with its blue skies and sunshine.

10 comments:

Elizabethd said...

Isnt it good to feel a bit of sunshine at last, to see the daffodils finally deciding to leave their beds. Our olive trees have lost their leaves, but they do that every year, and just when we think all is lost they produce buds.

Exmoorjane said...

So glad i'm not the only one! I think a load of our plants have given up the ghost this winter too... garden is looking very bare and sorry for itself. jxx

her at home said...

Cor hardy lot your holiday makers! Here in Brittany despite the balmy sunshine a cold wind blows and there isn't sign of any tourists yet thank goodness!

Sally Townsend said...

Impossible to fire on all cylinders isn't it with the snuffles. Our olive tree used to survive extreme heat and cold, I'm sure it won't be long before all is bright and cheerful with the season in full swing.

Pondside said...

Interesting to get a glimpse into this time at your place - the time just before the influx, when you're doing all the things that need doing for the summer. I hope you feel better very soon!

Pondside said...

Blogger doesn't seem to want my comments - but here's trying again! Just wanted to say that I find it interesting to get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of life at your place as you prepare for the summer influx.

laurie said...

daffodils and ice cream! and blue sky!

so sorry about your cold. i'm just coming out the other side of one, too. our daffodils are about two inches high. so unuusal for march, which is usually gray, icy, snowy and glum.

Tattieweasle said...

Well not quite sunny here but the apple trees are in bud and nearly all teh daffs are out - my olive seems to be alive too but like you dead lavender...feel a trip to Wyevale coming on!

Chris Stovell said...

Sorry I missed this. Hope you are fully recovered now... unfortunately we've seen the return of Winter here today.

wholesale caps said...

Here's the thing: I'm totally qualified. During the early years of my career, I used to address envelopes and place postage on invitations of every description.

Related Posts with Thumbnails