Monday, February 28, 2011

The first daffodils are out! What a difference the sun makes, the garden is looking so much more cheerful today.



This little clump of crocus greets visitors as they walk in the gate.





These two primula and the violet are new additions to the garden this year.


I hope they will be happy and spread a bit.


As it was so nice today, I did a bit of tidying up, removing dead leaves and sweeping paths. Then I transplanted these spinach seedlings from trays to some compost in the cold frame, I hope I haven't upset them.


It was so nice outside I decided to have lunch in the garden. Finn is making sure the birds don't steel the cake!



Smudge thought it was time to sunbathe,



And for once Tara agreed with him!



It's so good to get out in the garden again.






Thursday, February 17, 2011

SPRING IS COMING!

The garden seems so much slower coming to life this year, everywhere is damp and claggy,but the snowdrops are out and things are starting to shoot again. The weeds are doing quite well, but the ground is too wet to do anything about them, so it looks like I'm going to be eating a lot of Dandelion salad! I did quite a pallatable Dandelion wine last year aswell, although I would prefer them NOT to flower. Despite adding copious amounts of compost I have quite a heavy clay soil which according to the RHS course I did is rich in nutrients but not good to work when waterlogged as the soil structure will be destroyed.
This is all getting a bit technical so let's get back to what is actually happening. I've started having a superficial clear up, just removing dead leaves. I thought I had lost all my Fuschias which I had left out all winter because of lack of room indoors. I did cover them with dead leaves to try to protect them a bit, but they're starting to shoot! Not all of them admitedly, but I haven't given up hope as I supose it is still a bit early yet. The Auilega are shooting well aswell and the primroses are starting to bud. The Winter flowering Pansies have not given such a good show as last year but they are still struggling on.
And yesterday morning I discovered the frogspawn in the bath! Spring is definately round the corner.


Thursday, February 10, 2011

I'm Back

This is just a quick post now to let you all know my internet connection has been restored at long last!
The garden is looking a bit dismal at the moment, much more so than last year, although the snowdrops are out and the daffodils are in bud. The weather seems to have been too cold, wet or windy to do much out there for most of the winter. I need to get out and start weeding but the ground is too claggy to do anything yet.
Now I've finally managed to re-access my blog I'll do a more interesting post when I've got more time. See you all soon