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.

Bulb planting and since...

Since I used up all the space on my laptop and had to have it "sorted" by very helpful Apple Genius in Regent Street, I am a bit out of date with my posts.   So here is what should have been posted early in November.   Up-date to follow (with snow news!) very shortly....

It has turned very cold now.   All my fragiles and garden furniture are out of harm's way but there is still a lot to do and so little light to do it in!

Have finally managed to get all bulbs planted.   In the herb/rose garden are tulips Ballerina and Burgundy (as per last year) but this time with Jimmy & Ronaldo -  Parker's speciall offer!   In the main "border" are Orange Emperor, Marilyn, Maytime and Doll's Minuet.   I have packed a couple of pots with a crazy-looking new parrot-style tulip, Rai and squeezed another 25 allium Christophii in any spaces I could find.

A quick trip to the garden centre provided dwarf Irises (mixed), miniature Narcissus Minnow and a pack of mixed shade mauve pansies which I just about managed to cram into my window box before it got dark!

The garden is generally looking very green and brown - with just the odd splash of colour, mainly from the nerines and a few late aconitum but the winter jasmine is also in full flower and very cheery - it's a wonderful screening plant and incredibly well-behaved, even if it seems to flower when it wants to!

Biggest surprise to me was that I picked about 1/2 lb of raspberries today - what a treat!.

Small pleasures

Even though it has turned mild again, I have put away the tops of my ceramic bird baths for protection against possible frost damage.   It's a pity but a worthwhile precaution.   Diana Roles' ceramics are technically frost-proof but if water freezes in any spaces, part thaws and then re-freezes, it expands and that is where the damage can be done.   Pieces that drain or are smooth-sided are OK but I'm not taking any risks!

On the plus side, revealing the base of this piece has opened up more opportunities for the acer leaves to catch in cobwebs!

October - work to be done

I had some crazy idea that I would be able to whip the dahlias out and pop in the tulips - in a matter of a few hours!!!!    In fact just labelling the dahlias proved to take almost that long.   Now I see why people buy expensive metal tags which they leave on plants - permanently.   Anyway, I think I sorted them all out.   The next thing was to allow time - in the right location - for the worms which refused to be made homeless to decide to wriggle out.   Then came the small matter or hanging the tubers upside down for a week to allow them to dry out.   Hmmm - makeshift arrangements in the greenhouse took a bit of thinking out but I was glad I hadn't chucked out all the old shelf supports.   One greenhouse-length piece of wood balanced on some garden chairs seems to have done the trick!

Dahlia tubers drying on make-shift shelf in greenhouse

The first bach of tulip bulbs took longer to plant than expected as some multi-coloured osteospermum I had popped in as colour bedding have suddenly put on a new flush of blooms so I had to carefully dig around them.   Another lesson there.

In the greenhouse the winter salad crop and herb seedlings are coming on quite well.  Will soon have to decide whether to harvest some as "cress" or just thin out.   May experiment with a bit of each.

Progress of winter salad crops in growbags in the greenhoue

The nerines are certainly worth growing.   Sicne they are such a shocking colour I may even put in some orange ones for next year.   That would be interesting!

More crazy nerine shapes - they are so worthwhile - however LOUD!

Last luscious blush of little acer (unnamed seedling from Westonbirt arboretum)

First frost

So we have had our first heavy frost - on the night of the 20th - which has put paid to all the cheerful exhuberance by turning the dahlias black.    My temptation was to whip them all out of the ground so I could put in my tulips but apparently the dying foliage has to be left at least a week.
Instead I spent some time having a serious think to try and remember where I envisaged the tulips going.   The front border has emerged fairly unscathed from the house being decorated (very handy having a decorator who is also a gardener!) and the white paintwork at the bottom will provide a great backdrop for tulips so I put in all the bulbs I rescued from 2009/10 plus some new "Irene" - then remembered the crocuses I had dug up so shoved them in - they will have to take their chances.
There is some new colour - evergreen honeysuckle has started its second flowering, winter jasmine (very early!), the nerines are opening, a few late roses and most stunning are the acer leaves which have turned a luscious coppery crimson.
Red robin has been exerting his territorial presence and I finally saw a squirrel yesterday.  
Now preparing myself for a lot of work next weekend.

What a mess!

Suddenly the garden is looking pretty much of a mess!   So much for hopes of cutting the grass - I think that would make a big difference.   Still a lot of growth and quite a surprising amount of colour but I think this is the real turning-point.   I fact tonight's predicted frost prompted me to be quite ruthless about cutting handfuls of gorgeous dahlia blooms - so this will probably be it for dahlia pictures this year!!!  

I am posting a picture of the progress made by the nerines which shows just how much growth has begun to slow.  

There are still PLENTY cobwebs (seen here catching the light behind crocosmia leaves) - must be a very good time of year for spiders, although I have no idea why.    Are they fattening themselves up for winter?