The good spell of February weather for the past fortnight was very welcome. But as it carried on, I was becoming more and more nervous. So nervous and jittery that I’m running out of Wrangler Texas-cut jeans.

You see, a fine February carries a health warning. The old boys will tell you “every month in the year curses a good February”.

Now I know there are old weather piseogs for every month of the year but most of them have some sort of a sound basis. My mother always noted the weather on St Swithin’s Day which is 15 July, as it also was her eldest brother’s birthday.

I called him George St Swithin-Clarke as a result - very posh. According to folklore if it rains on that day, it’ll rain for the next 40 days.

In keeping with this, I recall reading the late meteorologist and columnist, Brendan McWilliams who suggested if the weather was unsettled in mid-July it often remained so, thus adding credence to that particular piseog.

However, you have to make hay while the sun shines. With that in mind, I think we’ve used this dry weather productively. The fields have soaked well and it’s good to be back out in them again.

Anyhow, long story short, light touch my arse, he tore the liner twice which, granted, is probably less than Bruno ‘The Pipe Buster’ McCormack would have done

Some wheat has been sprayed with Broadway Star targeting brome. Yeah, maybe it’s a bit cold but it should be ok.

Cattle slurry went onto grass and pig slurry and muck onto some grazed cover crop fields. It’s these which were the driest, probably because they were very lightly tilled at sowing with the Fantom cultivator. Sheep grazing also adds a firmness to fields.

Since I don’t like minimal cultivations for spring barley, the slurry and muck were ploughed in. But all of the land destined for beans has been, or will be, cultivated.

It tilled up nicely but not good enough to sow straight away. But I hope to have made good progress by the time you read this.

Because looking at the Countryfile forecast, some rain is coming and I think my concerns about February being too good may be premature. It could revert to typical weather yet. So, I’ll relax and ease up on the Wrangler Texas-cut jeans now…

Productive winter

The winter period seemed to pass quickly. Like February, I think we have used the time well. I bought a 5t mini digger and Man Friday has cleaned a lot of drains.

It’s mostly light touch and more about dragging the grass and weeds. Then Mrs P suggested we clean up the pond in the garden with the digger. “No problem”, said I, all gung-ho.

Well, I’m sorry we went near the wretched pond which is lined with rubber. I was the banksman and Jason was on the digger so it’s as much my fault as his.

Anyhow, long story short, light touch my arse, he tore the liner twice which, granted, is probably less than Bruno ‘The Pipe Buster’ McCormack would have done. (If you have a Hydrodare pipe anywhere in the ground Bruno will surely snig it with the digger.)

And now between the dry weather and the leaks, the pond level has dropped 18 inches. It’s not pretty and looks more like a dairy farmer’s slurry lagoon.

We’re not hugely popular now with Mrs P. “Do you know,” she said, “that we’re having a barbeque in the summer when Max is getting married?”

“I’d heard that all right,” I replied, “Relax, I’ll get it sorted.” But secretly I have no idea how to patch it. It’ll take more than fresh pairs of Y fronts and Wrangler Texas-cut jeans to sort this one out.