Friday 25th February 2022 - Last Few Days and Loading Pots

February has to be my least favourite month of the year, so I am glad there are just a few days left now before we slip into March. Although, in our garden, we have seen hamamelis, snowdrops, primroses, pansies, cyclamen, crocus and camellias in flower, with the first of the daffodils and early tulips buds breaking open, I remain impatient to get into the full swing of spring. Not that we are guaranteed better weather in March, it just feels as though we will see an improvement and can start spending more time in the garden. February is the month when I take all the overwintering plants out of the greenhouse along with the staging and other items that ‘live’ under the glass before washing it inside and out. Ideally this is done on a nice bright day with a bit of a breeze but this year, days like this in February have been a bit patchy. Today would have been ideal, had we not been doing other things this morning, but I did go and sit in the greenhouse late morning and again this afternoon to tidy up the fuchsias, give them a feed and water to set them up for the growing season. It was so warm under the glass; I could have sat out in shorts and a t-shirt!

Wednesday morning, while walking Barney along the promenade, we spotted the first crabbing boats of 2022, out from Cromer. I wondered how long before one or both of the boats based in Overstrand would be out too. Not long to wait because in the afternoon we stopped on the cliff top for a few minutes to watch the Jayne Marie being loaded with pots, prior to launching. Today, fisherman Andy told us they were out again yesterday with more pots. Hopefully, it won’t be too long before we can buy our first crabs of the season, with my annual photo posted here in my blog. Before this, today’s photo was taken from the cliff top showing pots being passed up for stacking on the boat.