Mid March frost

One morning I came down to find this frost had caught me and the garden by surprise - having put out my bird baths and failed to cover over the plentiful blossom on my little apricot tree - its first proper flowering.   The bird baths are fine but I thin I may have lost most of the apricot crop.   It also dissuaded me from planting dahlia corms which I put off until the end of March.

March has whizzed by

So much for good intentions - March has whizzed by and now we are into April and everything is bursting into life so fast I can hardly keep up with it.   But there are a couple of visually noteworthy events I have managed to photograph.

These pictures were taken at Savil Garden on March 5th.   Most things were rather behind but there were some wonderful skeletal leaf and twig forms I could never have spotted otherwise:

Wood mouse

I was thrilled to see an old friend in the garden this weekend.   During the summer I had regular sightings of wood mice who seem to have made their home in the shrubs just in front of the french windows.   They seem to love peanuts and the place I see them most often is on a bird feeder which they share mainly with blue tits.   I don't know who is most afraid of who!

When I first saw these long-whiskered, white-bellied little mice I was a bit worried they may want to come into the house but although one brave creature actually ran under the kitchen step I was sitting on to steal sandwich crumbs one day, they have never ventured in.

They just provide the most wonderful entertainment.

A hint of spring maybe?

I have enjoyed the pansies in my window box all through this painful winter but I had a lovely surprise on Friday morning when I drew the curtains.   Two blue iris reticulata which had been tight buds the night before were wide open.   On the window ledge they are at my eye-level, sitting looking cheerful as I write.  So uplifting.

A clean sweep

It seemed like a good day to go out and sweep up the thick coating of hazel leaves which were covering the grass and have a bit of a tidy up of the paths and paved areas too.   Although it was nearly dark by the time I finished, I think it will look a whole lot better tomorrow and maybe I have unearthed a few more goodies for the birds.

In the greenhouse I am astonished to find that the salad "cress"and coriander IS still growing along with a few other potted tender plants.   They seem to have survived the frozen soil.   So too has the parsley and land cress growing in the garden!!!

On a less positive note I decided to check my dahlia corms in the shed and oh, woe... they are not in good shape.   After all my efforts I will be buying afresh in the spring.   Never mind, it will be fun to choose some more! (and a lesson learned for next year....)

Redwings

Just saw my first redwings for the winter - they always seem to come with the snow.

Snow!

Garden in snow 18th December

Having entirely missed the opportunity of posting about the joy of picking coriander from my greenhouse 2 weeks back, I went down the garden this morning to discover that I don't think I'll be doing that again for a while as, even in the greenhouse (a strange murky place under its covering of snow), the soil in the growbags is rock hard.   Never mind, it was a good experiment while it lasted and proved that greenhouse-grown "leaves" can survive quite a bit of frosty weather before they give in.

I was treated to a very extraordinary experience today.   We have had a good 5 inches or so of snow but today is the day for me to bring in my Christmas tree and I thought I'd better get on with it before it disappeared all together.   So I had to get first a broom, then a paint brush to brush off as much snow as possible before bringing it into the house - all the while battling off more settling!   Anyway, its in now and has just about stopped dripping dry in the hall.   I just hope the shock won't be too much for it!

I am trying to take care of the birds.   Seeds and nuts in birdfeeders are easy but ground food is more tricky as it gets buried in the snow so fast.   I have chopped up some dried dates which the blackbird seems to be enjoying.