Gardeners secret weapon?

Flakes of snow were coming down as I dug my beds and pushed a few hopeful seed onions and broad-beans into the cold spring soil. All of us at New House are gardeners, but this was not the best gardening weekend.

Normally, I can't dig without a pot of tea by my side, but as I was cooking Sunday lunch I had a glass of Italian Proscecco with me.

Could this be the perfect gardeners cold-weather wine? It's low alcohol (so you're unlikely to dig up your good perenials in error) and it's best kept chilled. In today's temperatures my usual pot of tea would have swiftly turned to a luke-warm brew, but the Proscetto remained fresh and sparkling :

Glass of Proscecco - the gardeners friend?

Broad bean seeds shivering and waiting to go in.

They are in the mud now, but my village chums will say I should have planted them when there's a Full Moon, a New Moon, or maybe even when the first Hedgehog of Spring does a little dance in a ra-ra skirt. Meanwhile, my seed potatoes are staring through the window, chitting, and waiting for their turn....