The last days of February 2019 are now a very distant memory as we approach March 2020 beneath clouds and a decided chill, which is bound to slow the breaking buds on many species. Quince were about two weeks ahead and some apple varieties were showing a little green as the bud scales began to part early last week, also on the early side. Rainfall totals this month have not been excessive but each additional 10mm has topped up an already saturated soil so it is possible that some root loss will occur in instances where trees searched deeper for moisture during the Spring drought of last year. Compared with the unfortunate flooding further west we have nothing but some minor delaying inconvenience to trouble us.
I recently entertained our local Women’s Institute with an account of life here in Aldham, at Crapes, since February 1922. No longer would forty people from the village be available with their wooden stools to pick blackcurrants as in the 1930s. There is a misconception that those working in agricultural and horticulture are ‘low skilled’. We may look muddy and dishevelled but the years of wisdom of the land and growing learnt, and in turn passed on to the next generation, don’t come for ‘nothing’. As a nation we have made a good job of shooting off one foot since the beginning of the year; now the toes on the other seem destined for a slow amputation before the beginning of the next. Attitudes need to change – fast. The weather is the least of our problems – FOR ONCE!
