Signs of Spring at Spitalfields

It's still chilly here, and the animals are all tucked up in bed by 5.30pm when it gets dark, but if you look closely, you can see little signs of Spring popping up all over the place.  

Along the grass road close to our entrance gates we have daffodils, already in full bloom, which cheer everyone up as they come in to see us. 

Daffodils on the grass road

The planters beside the office doors have a combination of daffodil and tulip bulbs in, and you can see that they are sprouting from the soil more and more every day. Unfortunately, some hungry squirrels have also had a nibble on the new shoots and made a bit of a mess while they were at it. Luckily, we have reburied the bulbs and they should grow just fine. We can’t remember the colour of the tulips, so they’ll be a surprise... 

Planters beside the office - primroses and daffodils on the way!

Bulbs are fascinating, and you’ll notice that they are usually the first plants to flower in the Spring.  

Daffodils, Tulips, Crocuses and Snowdrops all grow from bulbs – rather than seeds. A bulb is the way that a plant sends its energy and nutrients below ground at the end of the Summer, a bit like charging up a battery. It stores this energy over-winter while the plant is naturally dormant (like hibernating). The following Spring, the energy in the bulb is ready and waiting for the plant to regrow and flower again as soon as the days start to get longer again, and the soil temperature warms up.  

Around the farm the trees are starting to put their energy in to growing new leaf and blossom buds – the plum tree is even flowering, which will be a help to any bees who dare to fly out and about on sunnier days.

This half term we’ll be hosting some fun activities at the farm – we have Clay Creature making, seed bomb making and our usual Farm 2 Fork sessions. 

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