Exams over, and winter too?

Two RHS Diploma exams in two days have left my head spinning with ecosystems, business finance, garden restoration and hard landscaping techniques. All good stuff, but a lot to cram into consecutive days.

With the academic stuff out of the way, it’s boots back on tomorrow and getting stuck into digging over the proposed new veg plot, which is still overrun with Geraniums and grass. And time is tight with just 7 weeks to go until ‘Veg Week’ and so much more to do in the nursery and garden as well.

The weather might be turning in my favour though as the forecast is for the cold snap to fade away tomorrow, sliding up to a comparatively sub-tropical 6C. Hopefully that was our last long cold snap of the winter. I am ever an optimist.

On the domestic front the wood burning stove is heating half the house each night, saving us a fortune on oil, and a tonne or so a year of CO2. We have a huge stack of wood thanks to Pete’s new ‘horse’ and supreme proficiency with a bow saw. We almost have a kitchen too – all units and no appliances yet, but by tomorrow night we should be live. More walls have been insulated and I’ve ordered the solar hot water system, so we’re finally heading for some ‘free’ heat and hot water in years to come. It’s all coming together at last.