<a href="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/bees-close-upjan20.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-6017" src="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/bees-close-upjan20-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="274" height="206" /></a>I might have said this before but I don't think my bees have read the same bee manuals as me. Apart from the days when it's raining if the temperature gets above 5 degrees my bees come out, fly about and then return. I'm not sure if they're bringing in any pollen or nectar but they seem happy enough. This trio were heading completely in the wrong direction for the entrance. Maybe they didn't attend bee school because they were too busy swarming and finding a new home in my hive.

<a href="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/seed-packetsjan20.jpg"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-6018" src="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/seed-packetsjan20-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="300" /></a>I completed my vegetable plot plan a month ago and I thought it was time to check my seeds and buy new seeds for the coming season. There's something really exciting about visiting a garden centre with a list of seeds and then exploring what's available. I always have this temptation to try something new; last year it was Chard which I grew but never ate. I resisted any experimental choices and stuck to what I know and what I eat. No point growing anything I don't eat.

Next step is to set out a sowing scheme, month by month, bearing in mind not to sow too early because the British weather has this nasty way of turning cold at the tail end of spring.