Spring at last
A few mild days have brought everything to life. Prunus 'Pissardii' has finally sprung prettily into flower. All the Tete-a-tete are open and the surface of the herbaceous perennial border is breaking open as dormant buds burst through.
The one meconopsis that I disbudded last year has survived (but I've ordered another three, just in case ;-). The seedlings in the polytunnel look great, but some in the coldframe have been grazed off - presumably by snails. The annual mollusc cull will have to start
Our Dicksonia Antarctica has survived the cold surprisingly well. We wrapped it in a bit of fleece and stuffed straw in the crown. The tips of the fronds browned a bit, but considering we got to nearly -7C it's done really well.
Prunus 'Pissardii'. Six weeks later than 2005 but worth the wait.
A common Peony breaking through
Spawn sorbet
Another low of -3C last night froze the top of the frogspawn heap. But when it finally warmed up a bit we had the loveliest spring day so far - just warm enough to persuade the crocuses to release their faint scent on the still air. Another cold night tonight, then - finally - a mild spell on the way.
Sowed a block of Broad bean 'Stereo'. First outdoor seeds of the year :-)
An early morning of poppies and frogs
I was awake at 5.30am and couldn't get back to sleep, so I got up, threw on a fleece and went out in the chill morning air. About a dozen frogs were piled up on a messy heap of frogspawn in the pond so clearly the heron missed a good few. They quickly slipped into the water at the first sound I made - they've learnt to be wary.
Such was my morning energy rush that I spent a very pleasant hour before breakfast pricking out the remaining meconopsis seedlings, this time settling them in up to the leaf bases. Fingers crossed for 30 healthy babies later this year.
Real progress at last
Two dry days meant two good sessions outdoors. Still very cool, but the sun came out long enough to encourage a few flowers to open. Below is Tete-a-tete making its first foray into the open.
I dug over all the veg plots and raked in compost or manure. On my light soil it's best done in spring as it doesn't leach away. The vague plan is to make the veg plots look good this year, mixing up plants to create colour patterns and plant tightly to exclude weeds, potager style. Have to see how it works out in practice.
I've realised I'd not potted the meconopsis seedlings deeply enough. They form a rosette rather than a stalk, so I've added more compost to bring the leaves to soil level. Still got two more potfuls of seedlings if these fail.
A completely different spring.
On the 17th March 2005, we recorded a high of 18C.
Today, exactly one year later we recorded a high of 3.4C. A frost is predicted for the next 5 nights with maximum temperatures of 5C.
For those of us who said a cold winter would be good for getting rid of overwintering pests, well yes, thank you, that was just great. But can we have some spring now please?
Frogspawn - at last...
Despite the heron, snow and sub-zero temperatures, we have the first clump of fresh frogspawn in the pond. In fact, it's only about 3 days later than last year, so perhaps each pond-full of frogs has its own spawning time, regardless of the weather.
Sleet and occasional snow today - a 'high' of 3.1C and a low of -2.4C last night. Sowed a load of seeds yesterday, but I really don't think there was much point!
Truly, utterly horrible.
Today we've had alternate hail and sleet, in a whipping cold wind that made it seem even colder than the 4C which the thermometer struggled to reach.
And there's no sign of frog spawn either, so maybe the heron got the lot. Just one spring day would be nice. Maybe next week?
More snow, and a murderous visitor
We woke to a snow covered garden once more. I can tell it has snowed before I open my eyes, as the snow muffles the sound of passing cars to a low hum. Lovely though the peace is, it is bitter out, close to zero with a biting east wind. That puts paid to any ideas of digging over the veg patch today and sowing the broad beans.
On the plus side, the snow gave me a good chance to experiment with the new camera, messing with the manual exposure option to turn grey snow pure white and to get in really close:
But we weren't the first to get out there. The heron got into the garden before we did, leaving unmistakable evidence of a morning frog feast. Bad timing for the frogs, as they had been getting ready to spawn, lurking at the surface in the water bean plants. I've no idea how many it got, or how many are left. From the number of trips it took to the pond, it seems it had a hearty breakfast.
And a few more photos. Snow is irresitable with a camera to hand:
The pink double camellia still waiting to flower
An early hemero- callis. Hopefully the cold will kill off the gall midge that plagued it last year.
Your picture, DB
For the record...
I pricked out one pot of meconopsis seedlings at the weekend. They are barely past the seed leaf stage, but I read that they don't like being moved later, so I've done some now and will leave some until they're a bit bigger. I also potted up some of the anthemis tintoria cuttings that have taken over winter. These plants are seriously easy to propagate. Must check that my variety 'EC Buxton' isn't PBR restricted.
The snow and ice has gone and now it's just very wet, cold and damp. Not nice at all.
New camera, new world
Though my faithful Nikon Coolpix has served me well, the difficulty of focussing on small subjects and the lack of aperture control has drawn me inevitably to a digital SLR. And what a joy it is. A pleasure to hold, responsive, compliant and inexhaustible, it surely delivers everything a girl could want. Enough of that - a few pics from this morning from the garden and Pennington Flash.
Snow!
Well we don't get it here often so of course we're excited. A good inch and half fell overnight. It's -3C and absolutely still. Some snow pics....
Seriously cold this time - for England, if not for Switzerland....
The weather station recorded -6.8C overnight, with -4.4C in the polytunnel too. This morning the garden was encased in thin frost and very pretty too. But it's only been one night, and although the grass is solid underfoot, the soil is soft underneath a frozen crust. It would take several days to freeze more deeply.
All useful acclimatisation for the youngest Trillia who is off to Switzerland today as an au-pair for my brother. I don't think she's been on a train on her own before and today she's flying to Zurich via Heathrow (and changing terminals) all on her own. I'm confident she'll be fine - but nervous too!
A few photos from this morning:
Viburnum tinus 'Eve Price'. The buds look like sugar-coated sweets
A few iris reticulata - hope the flowers are frost proof.
Coylus contorta at its best
I love the way rhode- dendron leaves droop in a cold snap.
Choisya 'Aztec Pearl'. Such a great all year round plant
Viburnum davidii
The joy of a warm bottom...
My blog entry for the 19th Feb informs me that I took some cuttings of Anthemis tinctoria 'EC Buxton' (they were actually just the trimmings from a spring haircut). Using the 'warm bottoms, cool tops' tip I picked up from college, I put an inch of wet sand in the electric propagator, took the plastic lid off, laid some shading material over the top instead, and switched it on. Hey presto, visible roots by this morning, a mere 10 days later. That's quick.
We got to look round the college greenhouses today. The most impressive sight was the tomatoes, now 3ft high and already flowering, with a small army of bees in attendance. Bear in mind it was 2decC outside. They're being grown hydroponically, in rockwool and perlite. Apparently, they will grow to 30ft and will be untied and laid along the greenhouse floor as they do so, producing a continuous crop until November. Impressive!
Prunus 'Pissardii'. Six weeks later than 2005 but worth the wait.
A common Peony breaking through
