The brightest thing on the allotment!

This afternoon the sun prompted me to go and investigate our allotment as the last time I was there everything was frozen rock solid.

Our site is just on the brow of the hill so it gets the full force of the wind that sweeps down into the valley. It's so bad, that despite my effort to construct a netted tent with wooden uprights to protect our overwintering purple sprouting broccoli, the wind has demolished it again yet again! This also means that the pheasants have been helping themselves to the green leaves. Our oldest member of the site refuses to grow anything that overwinters as he says he's not growing stuff to feed the pheasants. I'm beginning to think he's right! I managed to gather up the netting and tidy up a little but as the wind was blowing quite strongly today I decided any re-netting needed to wait for a calmer day!

The whole allotment is looking much tidier than I've seen it though at this time of the year there's so very little growing. A little Kale, some Purple Sprouting Broccoli on more sheltered plots (why are the pheasants not eating these?) It time to start thinking about what we will grow in the coming year. Maybe start planting a few seeds inside during the next few weeks.

I took a few photos in the house next door as I thought I might blip the ravages that knocking out walls and things has wrought but I chose the barrow instead. It's much brighter!

It's been a good day for working on my prints today too. I've decided that I will add watercolour/ oil pastel, to lift parts that don't quite work. There's absolutely no reason why I can't display mixed media artwork as well as straight prints ... and it's working well. I might even enter one of them into the South Yorkshire Art Competition! Closing date later in March.