Today was one of those glorious days when nature gets everything right. January 23rd and we had our first lunch of the year in the garden. I don’t think we’ve ever eaten out so early without a campfire! Who’d have thought it in the north of England? It seems I seriously misjudged the climate up here; it’s nowhere near as cold as expected. Yet.
Check out Fidgie’s tongue..
Winter Seed Planting
Sunny, bright but still pretty cold, we headed to the garden to plant some seeds; Norway Spruce from a midwinter Solstice party, Red Oak acorns from our Christmas visit to Alnwick Gardens plus rosehip and Cotoneaster seeds foraged in December. As we home educate, we get to make the most of great weather whenever it happens, which we certainly did today.
Biodynamic Rhythms Calendar
It was a Root and Leaf day in Biodynamic Gardening (an extension of organic gardening involving the cycles of the sun and moon to ascertain the best time for planting, harvesting, pruning etc dependent on the plants being grown) – there are particular days for root growth, seeds, fruit and leaves.
I dabble in biodynamics when planting new things. Lots of research has been done in the field though I can’t explain the science personally! Check out an online Biodynamic Gardening Calendar
It was so refreshing out that Caroline decided to ‘tidy’ the garden after planting the seeds (why doesn’t that happen in the house?!) I heated soup and we ate out in glorious sunshine.
I saw a Mouse…
A cheeky Wood Mouse joined us, intent on stealing sunflower seeds we’d put out for the birds. In fact, we discovered the mouse is a squatter in what was intended to be the hedgehog’s home!
It obviously didn’t matter to her that the roof had collapsed. The straw inside was still perfectly dry and full of cherry stone shells when I checked for hedgehogs.
All I can say is “Hello Spring!” and thanks Mother Nature for a sunny, January surprise.
I’d love to hear from anyone else who’s tried Biodynamics – please comment below or let me know on Facebook.
2018 Update – sadly we didn’t get to see these germinate as Caroline’s cancer was diagnosed just weeks after this post and the garden neglected for much of last year. For more gardening articles see Gardening.
More Resources
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#CountryKids
How lucky were you to get warm enough weather to eat outside, I’m in the North of England too but absolutely frozen! I love your mouse visitor and wish I could plant things but I normally kill things so admire anyone with nice gardens. #CountryKids
I’ve never heard of that calendar, we haven’t got into growing our own stuff yet. Lovely to get some sunshine, we’ve been having quite a bit down South too and I love to make the most of it.
This looks like a lovely way to spend the day, we often eat outside in the summer but rarely brave it in the winter either. Learning the science behind planting and growing different plants sounds like the perfect way to spend time in the fresh air. Soup was the best choice for a chilly Al Fresco lunch, I bet you can’t wait to get out in the garden again!
Thanks for linking up with me on #CountryKids.
Sounds like a lovely day. I can’t imagine eating in the garden here yet. I’ve not heard of that gardening method but I’m very new to gardening. #countrykids
Wow it sounds like you made the best of a beautiful day! We tend to get outside as soon as the weather allows (we live in Ireland), but we’re pretty much limited to the weekends… Home ed sure is the way to go 😉
#countrykids
Looks like you had a fun day. Its been freezing here and noway near warm enough to eat outside x
I have not heard of biodynamics before, which makes me think I probably should have done. We have been growing our own for several years sometimes it goes really well. Other times it doesn’t! I know there are a lot of factors but I may read up on this. Thanks for the inspiration. Stopping by from #CountryKids.
Glad you’re thinking biodynamics! It’s definitely worth the research though it can be a little daunting and you need the charts and calendars to check, but I do notice different results when I garden that way. It’s also to do with organics and soil quality etc too. Good luck!
Love the photos of the mouse. I’ve not heard of biodynamic gardening before – it sounds really interesting. How lovely to eat your lunch outside too 🙂 #countrykids
What a wonderful way to spend the day! And, how lovely to be able to eat outside. We haven’t managed that yet, but then we have had quite a bit of snow 🙂 Although, the weather has been New-England-crazy and it probably has been warm enough some days! #countrykids
I love to see children enjoying being outside rather than sat in front of a screen #gloriousgardens@_karendenbid199@gmail is
I totally agree. Being outdoors is better than any screen!
That mouse has such big eyes! Looks like you had a fun day! I haven’t tried biodynamics, but would be interested to hear others’ experiences.
I haven’t done anything in the garden for almost a year but in previous times the biodynamics seemed to work. Experimentation required! The mouse was a real cutie! 🐭
I’d be really interested to hear more about biodynamics. I don’t really know when it is best to do particular jobs so tend to do it when I have 5 minutes rather than when is optimal #mygloriousgarden
This is a useful link and I’ll get round to a more detailed post soon! Thanks for reading https://www.biodynamic.org.uk/garden/
I have never heard if biodynamic gardening so this link is really interesting reading. Thank you Lucy for linking this post and for introducing me to something new. I will be posting a round up post soon. See you May. #MyGloriousGardens
Glad to have brought something new into the mix. A thorough post on biodynamics is in the pipeline but there are so many posts planned and so little time…..! I’ll definitely be there in May
I’d be really interested to read that. X