The chickens are adjusting grumpily to their new location outside the vegetable garden and the straw littering the beds has been dug in with a sprinkling of milorganite as added fertilizer. I'll let the turned soil sit for a day before raking in preparation for sowing peas and planting out the trays of kale and cauliflower I've moved from the potting shed to the cold-frame to harden off.
Ideally peas should be sown by St Patrick's day, but although the weather is now glorious it was such a cold wet winter the soil needed the warm days last week to dry out before being worked.
Some spring tasks you can write in stone -- sowing tomato seeds 8 weeks before the last predicted frost in the area. If frost still threatens after planting out the new seedlings can be covered with fleece and survive. Sown too early, you risk thin straggling plants that have stretched too long for light.
Other spring tasks are a moveable feast, if the winter is as wet and cold as this year's even if the weather is suddenly glorious the ground may still be too wet to sow or plant any edible crops.
The classic test is whether the soil sticks to your boots. If it does, wait a couple of days until there is 'tanning' on the soil surface.
There's still plenty to do -- the soil might be too wet to dig but will be easier to edge. Neatening edges and weeding now greatly improves the garden going forward. The best way to edge is to use a moon-shaped cutter and angle the tool slightly outwards rather than straight down. This exaggerates the edge and makes it look deeper. It also improves drainage and helps to prevent the weed seeds congregating in the groove at the bottom.
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