It’s nearly 6pm and I can still see the river from my office window so the days are definitely getting longer!
Another busy month at Gardening Leave - I was interviewed ‘live’ on the BFBS (www.bfbs-radio.com) Breakfast Show which was a very proud moment for me. To think that soldiers in Afghanistan were hearing about Gardening Leave helped to reinforce the link between serving personnel and veterans which all of us at Gardening Leave work so hard to bridge.
However, the BEST news of February is that the Stovehouse is now surrounded by scaffolding! In spite of some lousy weather, the scaffolders have made great progress and the ballast tanks which will hold the cover down are waiting to be filled with water so by the Birthday Party in April, we should have plenty for our guests to see.
Outside in the garden, the greenhouses on the terrace had a really good wash to make use of every precious minute of daylight to germinate our seeds and each of the front steps have had a very smart white line painted on them to help with visibility and make access safer for veterans and visitors.
The shallots are in, the 1st Early potatoes are chitting, the water butts have been spring-cleaned and our 1st wooden trough (great for veterans with mobility troubles) has been built and Mark II is on its way!
Seed sowing as per Pamela’s Timetable (see January) continues and at last it feels as though the dark days of Winter are finally receeding.
We had a really good Volunteers Get Together this month when all our Volunteers came to Auchincruive for lunch and a catch up and London Scottish very kindly hosted our Trustees Meeting at their Regimental Headquarters in Horseferry Road in London.
I spent 2 fascinating days in Edinburgh at the UK Psychological Trauma Society’s annual conference which really helped me to work out where Gardening Leave fits in to the bigger picture and I hope you enjoy February’s pictures as much as I do!
As ever,Anna.
