In the mild midwinter ...

The wind is certainly making moan - every few days another gale - but it's not at all frosty, and there's absolutely no prospect at the moment of snow falling on snow.  Plenty of rain falling on sodden ground, though.  Today I tried digging over the ground where the dahlias had been in the hope of getting some tulips planted in there, but it was much too sticky for any planting.  At least we haven't had as much rainfall as the north of England, which is currently flooded.  It is still ridiculously mild; a little fresher today, but not anything like December ought to be. The plants think so too.  The cistus is flowering happily, presumably under the delusion that it's a Mediterranean spring.  Unfortunately the Iris foetidissima behind it has its orange berries on display, and it's not a happy colour combination, but never mind.  The Geum rivale is in flower too as is one of the Welsh poppies, there are still some pinks in bud and flower, hellebores are blooming all over the place and there's a Sweet William even having a go.  The early snowdrops are out, but the Galanthus elwesii is hidden because the geraniums haven't died back, and one of them is trying to flower too.  The daffodils are shooting already, and the little rhubarb plant that I planted earlier in the year has one perky little leaf out.  It's all wrong.  On the plus side, the winter flowering shrubs haven't been knocked back yet and there's a lovely display of winter honeysuckle.

The more opportunistic weeds - herb robert, bittercress - are still growing too, as is the grass.  The lawn is much longer than it ought to be but it's far too wet to cut.  The horses which are currently pastured in the field behind us occasionally come to the fence and look longingly at it.

There's another storm - heavy rain and gales - forecast for Wednesday.  But a little sun tomorrow, which will be welcome in this very depressing December.

The mild weather has meant that there isn't the range of birds turning up that we usually have in winter.  A male bullfinch dropped in the other day but otherwise it's mostly our regulars.

Belated bulbs

I'm still planting bulbs.  A lot of those removed from last year's summer pots - the ones that still looked in reasonable condition - have gone in the bottom of the veg patch, next to the place where next door's lily of the valley has spread under the wall.  I'm not expecting great things, and the plan (at the moment) is to dig them up and throw them away next summer, but it's worth a try.  I've given them some bonemeal each in the hope of giving them a kickstart.  Down there are the remnants of 'Jan Reus' and 'Veronique Sanson', at the back by the wall; in front are a couple of the yellow tulips rescued from under the dining room window and 'Purple Jacket'; in front of that are 'Cairo' and 'Antraciet' on the right and some more yellow tulips on the left.

Meanwhile I've managed to get the alliums ('Purple Sensation', 'Purple Rain' and unifolium) into the bottom border under the ash tree, along with tulip 'Menton'.  This is a stonking great late pink tulip which I first saw in a garden nearby; it's supposed to be good at resisting the elements, which will be a useful attribute in this garden.  I'm gradually getting the other new bulbs (and some saved from last year) into their winter homes; some more 'Cairo' have gone into a pot with crocus 'Gipsy Girl' and some wallflower 'Sunset Red', while the Tete-a-tete daffodils have gone into the windowbox as usual, with blue violas and crocus 'Blue Pearl', and a small Carex testacea to provide some structure.  Further planting has been frustrated by the weather; we've had a couple of bright, sunny half-days but otherwise it's mostly damp or wet, with wind.  Today we've had gales; the village Christmas tree was going up this lunchtime and it will be interesting to see tomorrow whether it's still upright!

Yellow chrysanths, wallflowers and winter jasmine

It's still mild for this time of year, though.  The hellebore, and its offspring in the front garden, is getting into its flowering stride; some 'Sunset Red' wallflowers that were never potted up last winter and are still where they were sown are coming nicely into flower, the chrysanthemums are still going and there are odd flowers on the Centaurea montana, pinks, cistus and a Welsh poppy. The birds still come for their crumbs, seeds and water, and the blackbirds are still enjoying the occasional apple, but there's no sense of urgency in their feeding - plenty of wild food still around, I suspect.

Another pigeon, another gooseberry bush

One of the recurring themes in my gardening is the task that can only be completed once something else has been done, and very often that something else is dependent on yet another job being done first.  Usually it's not being able to plant something until its new home has been cleared of weeds or otherwise prepared.  Today it was the burial of yet another dead woodpigeon, which - given the lack of suitably deep soil in a place where the corpse wouldn't be dug up accidentally - meant first clearing another bit of the overgrown gooseberry row and selecting a reasonably young bit of plant with roots to replant there.  A very mature gooseberry plant was eventually dug up; it had enormous roots and digging out took some effort, but in the end I managed to create an appropriately sized grave for the pigeon, with the new gooseberry plant alongside (with lots of homemade compost and Rootgrow to help compensate for putting it near where the old plant had been).  It was quite a satisfying job in fact, as I was able to get some couch grass roots out at the same time.  The robin was also very satisfied with my digging; it checked over the area very thoroughly when I came in for some tea.

The pigeon was found tucked in between one of the compost bins and one of the leafmould containers, in a confined and very sheltered spot.  I don't think a predator could have taken it in there (although there were a few small feathers about, which might have been pulled out of the corpse by a secondary predator such as a rat); I suspect it was a sick bird (it may have been another juvenile, I couldn't tell for sure given the state it was in) just looking for a sheltered place to lie down, as sick pigeons do.  (Perhaps other birds do that too? I don't know.)  I rather wish they wouldn't do it in this garden; I'm running out of places to bury them!

The dahlias have been cut down and dug up.  'David Howard' had rotted completely, while 'Jescot Julie' is still one enormous tuber, which looks partly eaten away and had a lot of little worm things and larvae on it when I dug it up.  I decided to leave it lying there overnight - the weather is still very mild for the time of year - in the hope that the local biological control (robin, wren) would deal with the pests.  Certainly they seemed to have gone by the next morning (though they may have retreated into the tuber, I suppose!).  All the tubers are now drying out in the greenhouse, where I've also started potting up the half-hardies from the summer pots - argyranthemums, osteospermums, nepeta variegata etc.  It's still mild enough for that not to be a desperately urgent job; the weather has been damp and very windy and there's no real cold in sight.  The birds are still coming to feed on the fallen apples (the green woodpecker was there today) but without much sense of urgency.

Hellebore in flower

Colour in the garden is mostly from the chrysanthemums and the winter shrubs, but the big hellebore (argutifolius?) under the dining room window has started to flower, and the orange Iris foetidissima seed pods are showing.  The Lonicera purpusii is hanging on to its leaves as usual, and flowering nicely.  There are also a few last roses but I doubt if they are going to open properly, and the dianthus plants are producing sporadic blooms (being cut for the kitchen windowsill).

Four-and-twenty blackbirds

Ok, not quite four-and-twenty, and not baked in a pie, although the apples that they've been eating could have made a great many pies.  But this morning I counted 15 blackbirds in the garden, mostly eating the cooking apples brought down by the gales, with others heading for the holly tree and its berries and yet more just hanging out round the summerhouse.  The weather did indeed turn cold at the weekend, with a light covering of wet snow on Saturday morning and temperatures down to minus 3 overnight, and the birds suddenly became a lot more interested in the food available in the garden.  I've salvaged a good few apples and stored them in the greenhouse (mostly for feeding to the birds later in the winter), and several stems of hollyberries have been cut (and are also in the greenhouse, as the coolest mouse-proof place for them).  Besides the blackbirds, the fieldfares and redwings are also about and busily stripping the holly, and this afternoon I was scolded by the green woodpecker when I went out - so it's also still around.  We also had a female bullfinch one day, and a family of goldfinches picking over the Big Yellow Thing, whose seeds they're particularly fond of.

Although I haven't yet got round to clearing the summer pots (too many non-gardening things in hand at the moment), the argyranthemums et al seem to have survived the cold.  A little more leaf-clearing has been done, and some desultory tidying up, but the only major gardening achievement this week has been making a start on replanting the gooseberries, which have layered over the years and become very congested.  This was prompted by the discovery of a dead juvenile pigeon under the holly tree and the consequent need to find somewhere deep enough to bury it.  It now has a bit of gooseberry bush on top of it, in a position where I will be able to continue digging up the row without disturbing it.

Back to damp and windy weather again now, a bit milder but very November-ish, and no change in sight for the moment.  At times like this a little Christmas cheer in prospect seems very welcome!

Clearing up

Back home after a trip away, to a lawn covered with fallen leaves.  The weather during our absence was mild and intermittently windy, and all the ash leaves are down (apple and hazel leaves still to fall).  Since our return it has been mostly wet and windy (very windy recently), so there hasn't been much opportunity for clearing up.  The lawn is now clear, and two leafmould bins filled; the veg patch and drive are still to be raked, although the wind is sweeping the leaves into convenient piles for me. 

The wind is also blowing down the cooking apples; quite a few are already safely in store, leaving plenty for the blackbirds, the green woodpecker and the fieldfares (who have arrived while we were away).  The eaters were picked and stored before we left; quite a good crop of decent-sized fruit.  The birds still have plenty of fruit and berries and are showing little more than polite interest in the bread and seeds put out for them; that may change at the end of this week when the temperatures are set to fall.  We have a robin coming regularly to the patio, and a wren has been coming to bathe; there have also been plenty of tits (blue, great and coal) as well as the family of long-tailed tits dropping in from time to time.  The sparrowhawk flew over the other day; it has obviously been here while we were away, as evidenced by some partridge feathers on the lawn.

Besides the leaves, there is a lot of other clearing up to do in the garden.  The remains of the annuals have been composted (the courgettes and aubergines having gone that way before we left).  Nearly all the bulbs are still to be planted, too, including a batch of Alliums intended for the bottom border.  I did manage to partially overhaul that border before our departure, splitting the Francoa, moving some of the drought-haters such as the Astrantia and potting up some others, and planting out some new arrivals in the hope that they might do better in that situation.  I hope I can remember where everything is so that I don't disturb them while putting in the bulbs.


There are few flowers about: still some Nerines, a nice display by the dwarf red Chrysanthemum and a rather less impressive one by the big yellow Chrysanth, a few rather tatty Argyranthemum flowers in the pots, some belated pinks and late marigolds.  Otherwise it's the winter shrubs: Viburnum 'Dawn', the winter honeysuckle and the winter jasmine.  Some primrose flowers by the gate as well.  In the summer pots, there are still a few flowers of Nasturtium 'Milkmaid' which I sowed in situ to provide some late colour.  The flowers were supposed to be white but in fact are pale yellow, which worked very nicely though actually they came too late to have much effect; they really came into their own as foliage plants, however, providing good filling and contrast with the other contents of the pots.  I'd never really thought of Nasturtiums as foliage plants before.

In the greenhouse, the tomatoes are fruiting madly (but not very flavourfully).  The contents of the grow-bag vacated by the aubergines have been supplemented with some of my home-made compost, and some small lettuce plants that were in the cold-frame have been planted in there, for winter salads; I'm sure you're not supposed to re-use grow-bags in that way, but I'm giving it a go.  I want to try to make better use of the greenhouse this winter, not just for keeping tender plants ticking over.  Most of the cuttings taken in late summer (Argyranthemums, Osteospermums, Penstemons mostly) have been potted on and are tucked under the greenhouse staging, except for the Southernwood (Artemisia abrotana) which is prone to damping off and which has gone into the draughtier conditions of the coldframe, alongside the sweet pea seedlings.  Looking at the forecast, I need to get the greenhouse insulation up and the heater up and running before the weekend - winter is coming!

Dark and crumbly

Although I diligently compost everything that can be composted, the end results are not usually very impressive - a bit sludgy, with odd bits of cardboard, twigs, eggshells and avocado skins dotted about in it.  Emptying out the black bin which has been cooking over the summer, however, revealed an end product that I was really quite pleased with.  It was properly dark, crumbly and well-mixed, with very few of the tell-tale undigested bits that have marked my attempts hitherto.  I was so pleased that I sieved some of it for use in potting mixes.  The bins have now been re-filled with the more recent contents, properly mixed with paper, cardboard and the clippings from the last lawn-mowing of the year, and some of the lovely dark stuff put in the bottom of trenches in the veg plot for the broad beans and garlic (both now sown/planted out). I hope they appreciate it.

Very small fig

Most of this year's beans have been pulled up; there are still a few runners producing, but otherwise nothing much is going to happen this year.  The borlottis produced a few pods, but the French beans ('Ferrari') sulked completely.  The sweet peas have also been composted as they had mostly shot their bolt.  In the greenhouse, the tomatoes have suddenly started to ripen, prompted perhaps by a week or so of nice warm and sunny weather, and the aubergines, which had done even less than last year, belatedly started to set a few fruit.  These could be the smallest aubergines ever as the plants aren't going to last much longer!  On the subject of small, our newly acquired fig plant (a gift from a neighbour), still in its pot, has produced one tiny fig, about the size of a marble.  This will have to be removed, as autumn figs don't ripen in this country, which is a pity!

Dahlias 'Ambition' and 'Blue Bayou'

The dahlias are still mostly doing well, with 'Bishop of Llandaff' finally producing a flower (though 'David Howard' seems to have succumbed to slug damage).  Most of the colour is still from 'Ambition', 'Bishop of Auckland' and 'Blue Bayou'.  The Zinnias are almost all over and have been pulled up, but the Cosmos continue to flaunt their pinkness across the garden.  The purple Michaelmas daisy is out, and the little red Chrysanthemum, which had a single flower on it, has suddenly sprouted a whole host of little buds.  There are also a reasonable number of Nerine buds showing too.  The most exuberant flowerer at the moment however is one of the Hedychiums in the greenhouse, which has a huge, scented orange head on it.

The birds seem put out by our absence for a few days and are sulking; but there has been a wren around in the hedge, a nuthatch hammering away in the tree and a big flock of long-tailed tits chattered through the garden today.

Right plant, wrong place

The jasmine has gone.  Well, not quite - three layerings have been potted up for future use and/or the Garden Society plant sale - but the actual plant has been dug up and removed.  It was up against the wooden summerhouse, the idea being that we would sit there and enjoy the fragrance; but in fact it never flowered with quite enough abandon, and its over-vigorous growth swamped the space and sent tendrils into inappropriate places, such as the summerhouse roof and under the hedge and into the neighbours' garden.  More seriously, it prevented the summerhouse from drying out properly and rot set in.  Plans to repair the summerhouse turned into plans for a rebuild when the structure was examined closely; but either way, the jasmine had to go.  Lovely plant, but wrong place.  Unfortunately I'm not sure we have a right place for one.

Alongside the summerhouse, I'm gearing up for a replanting of the bottom bed, which needs an infusion of compost/manure and a plant edit to remove the drought-haters.  I've got some alliums to go in there, and I will try to remember to plant the tulips in groups rather than dotted about!  Some more late-flowering plants would be welcome too.  Sedum 'Herbstfreude' is starting to show colour, but the main action around the garden is still the dahlias, cosmos and Phlox 'White Admiral', with the Japanese anemone (hupehensis?) which is tucked away behind rose 'Mme Hardy'.  (The rose is another potential candidate for the green recycling bin; lovely flowers but brief, and terrible disease-prone foliage.)  The late summer show is better than in the past, however, and I managed first prize at the village Show for Six Garden Flowers (the phlox, Dahlia 'Bishop of Auckland', Scabious 'Black Cat', the Japanese anemone, Penstemon 'Sour Grapes' and the one I always have to go and look up the name of, Lysimachia clethroides).  The cosmos flowers were too rain-damaged and the zinnias have suddenly started to flop.  My 'Blush Noisette' rose produced a single, rather fine, spray of flowers for the Show, which won the 'Best Rose' cup.  It's a plant I acquired by accident (the nursery sent the wrong variety), but it's a good one: late into flower but continues on and off until December, and, unlike Mme Hardy, with healthy, glossy leaves.

The plum crop (another first prize at the Show) was good this year - plentiful enough without being overwhelming - and we're now into the apples, which have also produced well.  The courgettes (only third prize!) are cropping nicely and the runner beans have started to produce.  There are also some Borlotti beans, but the French beans haven't done anything.  This year, however, I have managed to plant out the leeks (better late than never), though it's proving difficult to find places for them that haven't grown leeks, garlic or shallots in the last three years.  There is some rust on the leaves so I hope that doesn't persist too much.  Some potatoes turned up under the broad bean plants, and perversely produced a better crop than the potatoes I planted this year!  This year's varieties were 'Belle de Fontenay', which didn't produce much, and 'Ratte' which did virtually nothing at all.  I must remember not to keep trying 'Ratte'; it obviously needs better conditions than I can give it.  I think the volunteers under the beans were 'Charlotte', which does not too badly with us - but then, you can buy 'Charlotte' easily in the shops.

The weather has continued variable, with short spells of warm weather broken by cool and windy weeks.  This week has been particularly chilly at times, with no sign of an Indian summer, and despite brief flashes of warm sun the central heating beckons.  I haven't worn tee-shirts much this year, nor have there been many lunches outdoors; I did start lunch on the bench the other day, but was driven inside by the threat of a shower.

I don't know if it's the weather, but butterflies haven't been particularly plentiful.  When the buddleja first came into flower, it only seemed to attract bees (we still get plenty of them).  Eventually the red admirals turned up, but only one peacock; there have been a few tortoiseshells, and one each of painted lady, comma and brimstone.  One or more speckled woods have been about, and of course the cabbage whites; and a big dragonfly was clattering about for a few days.  I've seen hardly any ladybirds either.

Sparrow bath

The birds have started returning after their moulting season.  There are still lots of sparrows; it's not uncommon for a couple of dozen to come to the patio at once for food or a bath, and even larger flocks come to the seed container.  The blackbirds don't seem to have dispersed yet, but the robins have staked out their territory; there are blue and great tits, and the nuthatches are still about too.  A warbler appeared the other day, and at the other end of the size scale, the green woodpecker turns up from time to time (and could have been responsible for a big beak-sized gash in one of our best apples!).  The ripening of the hazelnuts has brought in the squirrel as well as the nuthatch.  The peanut container has for some time now been suspended from the tree by a length of strong wire in order to deter squirrels (I don't like using the squirrel guard as it puts the birds off), but one day we saw a squirrel slide head-first down the wire onto the peanuts - impressive, but unwelcome.  The wire has now been replaced by barbed wire - even less attractive, but quite effective, and the birds don't seem to mind!

Biological control

I've been aware of there being quite a lot of ants in the garden this year, but hadn't noticed too many of them in the greenhouse.  Then on Saturday suddenly there were flying ants swarming over the greenhouse flagstones and taking to the air.  A lot of them had been trapped by spiders (I hadn't noticed the number of spiders, and their webs, either until the webs were full of insects!) which were doing a very effective type of biological control, and the ants wouldn't do any harm anyway, so I left them to it.  Then a little later, passing the greenhouse, I noticed that biological control of a different sort was dealing with the ants ....

Biological control in the greenhouse

I think this is probably the little blackbird that was still being fed by its mum last week; she (I think she's fledging into adult female plumage) has been hanging around the soft fruit bushes which are alongside the greenhouse and she's fairly comfortable with my presence around the place.  Fortunately she was quite clear about where the door was and was able to get out (and later back in again!) without any problem; she seems to understand about glass and wasn't trying to fly through it.  She made no mess and didn't explore the place, just concentrated on picking up an easy meal - a most acceptable guest.  She was there again the next day, but the ants had largely gone by then, so it was back to the raspberry canes for food!

Unfortunately a little sparrow and one of the other little blackbirds weren't as glass-savvy as this little one.  A bang at the window, and when I looked out a baby sparrow was lying quivering on the ground, its dad (probably) hopping around it.  It was only stunned; after a few minutes it pulled itself together, looked about and hopped, then flew, off.  Not so lucky was the blackbird, which I found dead on the path yesterday, looking as if it had broken its neck after hitting the window.  I found a spot between two of the gooseberry bushes to bury it in; appropriate given how many of the fruit it had probably eaten.

Bark from the nuthatch nest

One job this weekend was to clean out the nest-box, now that the tenants have moved out.  Nothing as wimpy as grass and moss for baby nuthatches; they were reared on a bed of bark flakes, apparently gleaned from next door's silver birch.  The mud that the adults used to seal up the nest-box openings took quite a bit of work to remove; they're obviously very effective nest-builders!




The last lot of dwarf French beans, germinated in the cold frame, has gone into the ground and I'm now clearing another bit of the veg patch for the leeks.  The first courgette flowers will open soon.  The broad beans are nearly over; there might be more peas if I'm lucky; otherwise it's lettuce, kale and cabbage at the moment.


The dahlias are mostly doing quite well, though 'Jescot Julie' and 'David Howard' have been eaten by something (why just them?  they're not even next to each other).  'Juliet' and 'Bishop of Auckland' are doing well, and the first 'Blue Bayou' flower has opened.  The roses are mostly going over, but I'm pleased that 'Glamis Castle' has not only survived being dug up and moved (for the second time in its life - this time because of some impending path-widening) but has managed to put out a flower, despite the upheaval and an attack of blackspot.

Dahlia 'Blue Bayou'

Dahlia 'Juliet'

Rose 'Glamis Castle'

This weekend saw some pleasantly warm weather; gardening in T-shirt, and lunch on the bench.  Back to overcast and breezy today, and cooler and windier tomorrow.

Sawdust puzzle

The tomatoes in the greenhouse growbags are doing well so far, but the presence of sawdust on some of the leaves had me puzzled for a bit.  Sawdust, in an aluminium greenhouse?  Then I spotted the hole in one of the bamboo canes supporting one of the tomato plants - a neat little circular hole where something has bored into, or out of, the cane.  If it has gone in, why?  And if it came out, where is it now, and what is it doing?  I suspect it may be woodworm, of which we have plenty in the woodstore, but I wasn't expecting it in the greenhouse.  I would have thought that a bamboo cane would have been hard work for a woodworm.  The canes came from the garden centre; usually I use buddleja prunings, but I needed something slim enough to fit the holes provided in the new ring culture pots.

The weather has become even cooler - mid-teens and colder at night - and there have been a couple of miserably wet days (which is quite genuinely good for the garden, but not with wind and cold).  This has prompted some belated work in the greenhouse: seed-sowing and potting on of cuttings.  On dry days I've also started digging out the 'volunteer' raspberry canes in the veg patch, and getting at the nettle roots and other weeds around them while I was at it.  I need to clear more ground in the veg patch if all my new seeds are to find a home!  Most of the broad beans have been used, so their patch will soon be vacated (although it's not long now until the autumn-sown beans for next year go in ....).  The garlic bulbs have been plaited and hung up, and there were a number of little bulblets in the stems which I've potted up in the hope of getting next year's crop for free; if that works, they too will soon need a home.

The shrub roses are coming to an end, at least as far as pickable flowers is concerned, though I managed a nice posy of 'Felicia', 'Koenigin von Daenemark' and Gallica officinalis.  The other posy currently on the go is a much less tasteful, but definitely zingier, mix of dahlias ('Juliet' and 'Bishop of Auckland'), mixed zinnias and Crocosmia 'Lucifer'.  The zinnias are doing well and are quite a success; I'm pleased with them this year.

Last roses

Zinnias, dahlias and crocosmia

 Another success has been the fleecing up of the blackcurrant bush, resulting in several pots of jam and still more berries to come.  We've also had the first of the 'Belle de Fontenay' potatoes.  The first courgette buds are showing, so that's another glut on the way soon ....

Just as I thought that we'd had all the baby blackbirds for this year, a youngster, still with his gape and noisily demanding food, turned up in the raspberry patch this afternoon.  I think Mum was glad of the bare soil where I dug out the nettles yesterday as a source of worms.  There are still quite a few little sparrows being fed; a little dunnock showed up briefly the other day and three young starlings appeared this afternoon to pick over the lawn.  A greenfinch comes occasionally for a drink, as does Lefty the lame pigeon.  Today the pair of pigeons who 'own' our garden decided to have a spa morning in the birdbath, bathing and preening happily together (a bit of a squeeze - it's not that big a birdbath!).  There are other birds around in the background: a wren glimpsed briefly, a nuthatch heard pecking in the ash tree and a yellowhammer calling somewhere in the distance.

The first truss of flowers on the buddleja is out, but it hasn't been weather for butterflies to emerge; it's long sleeves and sweatshirt weather, even indoors.  And hot soup for lunch.  In July.  The forecast for August is no better.

Unaccompanied minors

Looking for ants: young green woodpecker (and blackbird)

Nesting time for the birds is pretty much over for another year, and the adults are feeding up the last brood (still one young blackbird being fed, and a lot of young sparrows).  We've been seeing quite a few young birds which are now independent and going about their business on their own.  The blackbirds have three youngsters in all, including two who seem to be doing their own thing, even though mum and dad are still about.  There have been a few young blue tits on the peanut container, at least one spotty little robin down in the damsons, a little goldfinch and a few woodpeckers, both great-spot and green; the green woodpecker plucked up the courage to come down one day in search of ants on the lawn, probably having noticed the blackbirds raiding the ants' nests that developed in the cowslip patch (which has now been mown down).  Other bird visitors have been the first nuthatch seen since they left the nest, and the goldcrest, searching for spiders on the rotary dryer.  I suspect that the goldcrest is around much more than I realise, but being small and inconspicuous he probably goes unnoticed.  They're usually birds of conifer woodlands, and conifers are few and far between around here (unless you count our Leylandii hedge).

The pigeon visitors have also increased, almost certainly as a result of the hay-cutting in the fields around us.  For most of the summer so far we've had a single pair, but as soon as the hay was cut Lefty the lame pigeon and at least one other pigeon appeared in the garden.  Lefty has been raiding one of the alpine strawberry plants, but I'm too soft-hearted to chase him away; it's good to see him still around.

Butterflies are becoming a little more numerous in the garden - speckled wood, tortoiseshell, one red admiral and of course the cabbage whites.  The mullein moth caterpillars disappeared, presumably having turned into chrysalises or whatever their next stage is.  Lots of bees, enjoying the clover in the lawn and the oregano.

The vegetable patch is still very dry, though there has been a little more rain recently; it has been less warm but very breezy, which dries the soil out.  (This has been quite a breezy year so far; I haven't been tempted to eat outside very much.)  The new rhubarb plant is settling in nicely, though, as have the courgettes and borlotti beans.  We've also had the first few potatoes.  On the fruit side, the gooseberry harvest has been good.  I did some pruning and thinning out in the winter, which I've seriously neglected in the past, and it has paid good dividends; the pruned bushes are healthier, with bigger and sweeter fruit than before.  The raspberries (when I can get at them before the blackbirds) are also good; the plants really need replacing, but I'll give them a bit more attention this year.

Sweet peas ('Royal Romance' and 'Athena')

There has been a steady supply of Sweet William and sweet peas for the house, as well as roses, and the first dahlias are out.  'Juliet' is good, and 'Jescot Julie' would be but for a serious infestation of the ubiquitous blackfly.  The Cosmos are starting to flower, and the first Zinnia opened the other day.  The patio pots have finally been planted up; they still need to fill out a bit, but don't look too bad grouped together in a corner.

Spem in Allium

I must get better at watering the garden, particularly the veg patch.  The weather has been mostly warm, dry and breezy, and thin, poor soil like ours dries out very quickly in conditions like that.  The shallots, which hadn't made a lot of top growth, were looking very parched, and the garlic tops had started to fall over; I noticed that other blog posters were lifting theirs, so I did likewise and let them dry off for a day (now moved into the greenhouse in anticipation of rain).  I have to admit that I grow the edible alliums more in hope than expectation; they don't do particularly well in our dry conditions.  I gave up growing onions - the sets tended to come out of the ground not much bigger than when they went in, and good onions are easy to come by - but have persevered with shallots and garlic (and leeks, but they were sown late this year and are still very small).  The shallots are always small, but that suits my cooking style, and I can live with small garlic bulbs.  Actually, this year's garlic (Early Purple Wight) has produced a couple of decent-sized heads, so I'm quite pleased with that.

The broad beans, now de-topped, have fewer blackfly, but the pesky critters are appearing everywhere - on the runner beans, the parsley, even some of the poppies.  A few borlotti beans have gone in, as have a couple of the plants from the second sowing of the courgettes.  In the greenhouse, the tomatoes and aubergines are in their growbags and doing well.

Earlier in the year, I took advantage of a non-windy day (we don't get many of those) to use up old weedkiller sitting around in the garage and sprayed the overgrown half of the veg plot.  I have finally started to clear the dead grasses from this, starting with a space for a rhubarb plant ('Timperley Early') bought during the winter and languishing in its little pot since then.  The existing rhubarb plants are very elderly, seriously overgrown and in poor soil, so this is by way of starting again.  The prompt to plant the rhubarb was actually the need to bury deceased wildlife, always a bit of a problem in shallow soil unless the dear departed is quite small.  I once had to bury a fully grown rabbit found dead on the front garden path, presumably left there by a fox as rabbits don't usually expire naturally outside people's front doors, even in the country.  My usual practice is to put them under a plant which isn't going to be moved for a very long time, so that they don't get dug up by accident (my squeamishness rather than respect for the creature, admittedly); the rabbit went under a hellebore at the side of the house, which responded by growing extremely well.  The soil in the rhubarb patch is relatively deep (a full spade's-depth), so it was a good spot to dispose of the latest carcasses - the remains of a pigeon found under the aquilegia on the edge of the patio, and a squirrel found under the big ash tree at the bottom of the garden.  I'm guessing that the pigeon may have been an old bird that chose the shelter of the plants as a place to die - pigeons do seek out a sheltered spot when their time is up - although there wasn't a great deal left apart from the wings by the time I found it under the leaves.  The squirrel is a bit of a mystery; it looked like a young one, and it was almost under the bottom fence, which would have been a strange place for a cat to have left it.  There was some dead wood from the ash tree nearby, so I suppose it's possible that the squirrel's weight brought down a rotten branch and it was killed in the fall (do squirrels ever fall out of trees?).  Anyway, both are now contributing to the fertility of the soil under the rhubarb plant, and I hope it thrives.

The raspberry suckers have started bearing fruit (they're always well ahead of the 'official' plants), and there are lots of gooseberries, mostly on the old plants that I haven't dug out yet.  My pruning of the plants I want to keep was obviously too severe; there are a few, nice big, fruits but not many.  The blackbirds are very partial to them but fortunately are focusing their attention on the smaller fruit, which are easier for them to get at; I picked one side of the bush while my friendly female blackbird picked the other side.  The newest blackcurrant bush has some lovely strings of fruit on it, so it has been fleeced up to keep the birds off.

The sunny and dry weather is to break down into rain from tomorrow - a chance to do some potting up and sowing in the greenhouse.  It has been a bit too hot in there to do much of that lately, although it has been ideal for drying off the bulbs lifted from the patio pots.

Bugs and beasties

At this time of year, the garden changes so rapidly that, after being away for more than a week, it's something of a shock to come back and find lots of new colour in the beds.  Most of the roses are out, as are the Dianthus, sweet rocket, Allium cristophii, the big red poppies, the rampant pink geraniums and the Alchemilla mollis (and a whole lot of other smaller things).  The Sweet William are also coming out, and looking quite good.  The Philadelphus is coming out too - even the big one in the back garden which I've been threatening to remove for ages now.

Closer inspection, however, shows not all is as well as it might be.  The Verbascum 'Violetta' in the bottom

Mullein moth caterpillars on 'Violetta'

border have thrown up several spikes of bloom, which were doing not too badly until the mullein moth caterpillars moved in.  Decision time: should I consign the lot of them to the recycling bin, or be wildlife-friendly and leave them be?  The plants probably won't flower again this year anyway, but then the caterpillars will presumably turn into moths and come back again next year.  Maybe they'll come back again next year anyway.  'Violetta' isn't the chunkiest of Verbascums and doesn't make as much of a statement as she might - and a statement is what is needed down there if it's to be visible from the house - so should I keep them?  For the time being, they're still there, caterpillars (growing fatter by the day) and all.

There is also a proliferation of blackfly on the broad beans.  In recent years I've been disinclined to pinch out the tops, as recommended; blackfly stopped being much of a problem, and one year there were none at all.  This year there are lots of them, which serves me right for being so cavalier; I must remember to do it earlier in future!  There is also a lot of aphid infestation on the apple trees, and some powdery mildew on one of the cordons.  I've been going over the trees, thinning fruit and pulling off the contorted leaves that show where the aphid eggs are.  Some of them have hatched in the recycling wheelie bin, and have climbed out and are sitting on the bin lid; since it's green, perhaps they assume it's a plant, albeit not a very edible one.  They don't seem to be going anywhere, which is good.

Before we went away, I managed to plant out the Cosmos and Didiscus in the cutting bed and the bottom border, and the runner beans and remaining brassicas in the veg plot; all a bit haphazard, but most of them are doing ok.  The current job is planting the tomatoes and aubergines in growbags in the greenhouse, and planting up the patio pots (a bit belatedly).

Several weeks ago, while weeding dandelions out of the lawn, I noticed a couple of long, spotted leaves

Common Spotted Orchid in the lawn

growing near the smaller apple tree.  They were immediately fenced off from the lawnmower, and have now sprouted a flower: as I suspected, a Common Spotted Orchid.  I hope it seeds.  (The two Twayblade plants by the plum tree have also been protected from mowing, but neither has flowered.)

The nuthatches seem to have moved out of the nestbox immediately after my last post, and have vanished completely; I hope they're just keeping out of sight in the tree canopy.  The blackbirds are feeding another brood, and somewhere near there's a thrush singing, presumably while his mate is on her nest.  A few more baby sparrows are about, and there are tits, dunnocks and the usual pair of pigeons around; the robins are no longer much in evidence, and the partridges have gone.  A young woodpecker comes regularly to the peanut feeder.

The weather has warmed up; apparently quite good while we were away, and now a heatwave is building up; hot today, and forecast to be hotter tomorrow.  To be followed by thunderstorms, of course.

Nuthatched

Nuthatch activity in and out of the nestbox suggests that their eggs have hatched and they're feeding the little ones.  This has been going on for a good couple of weeks now, so I would expect them to leave the nest soon, but there's no sign of the youngsters yet.  They're probably in no hurry to leave such a safe place; the nestbox is terracotta, and the parents have customised it with mud sealing up the inspection holes, so it must be quite snug as well.  The weather has been cool all month, with some warmish sunshine but a lot of chilly wind and temperatures still in the low teens, so the great outdoors can't seem all that appealing to a small bird!

The baby blackbirds have dispersed, and the parents are presumably now on a second brood, although the female is around more than I would have expected if she were hatching; I hope nothing has happened to her nest.  There has been a single baby sparrow down, though there's much activity around the nest sites.  Lots of other birds; the pair of linnets is still around, also a pair of goldfinches; a long-tailed tit came to the kitchen window one day, and a goldcrest was hunting for spiders round the waste bins; and yesterday a jay turned up and learned how to get onto the peanut container.  The two partridges still come daily; one of them has been sitting on the fleece covering my cabbage plants, which probably explains why they're looking rather squashed.

The cold weather hasn't encouraged me to plant out the runner beans, but I need to do that soon.  The 'Ferrari' and 'Borlotti' beans haven't germinated well, so I may have another go at them; and only one courgette has germinated, so I'll sow a few more.  The leeks were sown late but are now germinating.  I've taken to starting dill and coriander off in the cold frame and planting out, which seems to work quite well; there are a few parsley plants coming along in the same way.

Yesterday I finally bit the bullet and planted out those dahlias that are ready to go outside.  'Ambition', despite being a bit shrivelled in storage, was the first up and seems to be doing ok; 'Karma Choc' has done nothing at all.  I rescued two half-price bargains from the garden centre, a 'Bishop of Llandaff' and 'David Howard', and they are now also coming along, a little more slowly.  They've gone into the new border between the patio and the hedge, where I can keep an eye on any undesirable weeds coming up, with the zinnias for company.

'Silver Parrot'

'Purple Jacket' with Bellis

'Creme Upstar' with Anthemis

The tulips are now mostly past, although there are still a few 'Havran' in bloom and also the 'Angelique' and 'Black Hero' pairing in the big pot ('Uncle Tom' also did well here but was mostly over by the time the other two came along).  Most of the tulips in the smaller pots did poorly; too dry, too crowded or too overwhelmed by the wallflowers and forget-me-nots?  'Purple Jacket' was good (if rather more pink than purple), and so were the 'Silver Parrots'; I also liked 'Creme Upstar', although it was rather too delicate and subtle to make much of a statement.  'La Belle Epoque' looked very sickly, and I'm not sure if that was just the colour that it was or whether the poor growth affected it; the flowers lasted hardly any time and I'm not sure I'd grow it again.  'Antraciet' and 'Cairo' were both good, but 'Cairo' flowered much later so the combination didn't really work.  'Veronique Sanson' and 'Jan Reus' never made it up through the wallflowers.  Note to self: the wallflowers pair well with the earlier tulips but are going over by the time the May ones come along, which doesn't enhance the overall effect.

The aquilegias are out, and I'm making a note of the good ones for future use.  Some of the ones grown last year from seed are in flower, and include a purple and white bicolour and a lovely plain cream one; there are also several pink and white bicolours.

I'm steeling myself to pull up the forget-me-nots soon.  I always leave plants until all the flowers are finished, but by then the earlier flowers have seeded, and I have far too many forget-me-nots about the place as it is; so they're for the recycling bin sometime very soon.

One swallow

It doesn't make it summer, of course, but the first swallow showed up today, swooping low round the garden in search of insects.  It would be nice to think he might consider nesting here, but it's not likely.  We used to get house martins nesting under the roof, until the run of wet summers set in; when the rain came in 2007 they abandoned their nesting plans and moved away, and have never re-established here.

There has been lots of bird activity.  The nuthatches are still in the nestbox.  The blackbird fledglings (at least three of them) are out and about and very demanding, keeping their parents busy; the hen bird is very trusting and comes up close to me when I'm working in the garden.  Yesterday I checked over and repotted a lot of plants left from last year's village plant sales, in preparation for this year's, and found some with vine weevil grubs in the roots; these I fed to the blackbird who was delighted with them.  There's a pair of song thrushes, also apparently collecting food for young, as are the robins; there are at least two pairs of robins, so it's difficult to keep track of which is which!  There are three male blackbirds about too, with a fair bit of scrapping.  Lots of sparrows, as always, busy collecting nesting material; a pigeon fight resulted in some loose feathers on the lawn, which the sparrows immediately seized upon and carried up into our roof!  We've also had greenfinches, chaffinches, goldfinches and a pair of linnets; blue and great tits; a pair of wrens, several dunnocks and a very stroppy collared dove which fights with the pigeons.  The starlings are nesting in their usual place in the roof.  A mistle thrush showed up one day, and the two partridges appear most days, occasionally checking on the broad bean patch which has now been thoroughly staked to keep them off.

The butterfly count is increasing; today I spotted an orange tip, and a female large white.  Lots of bees.

The daffodils are fading, with only 'Jenny' and the pheasants-eye types still looking good (the 'Geranium' ones have been cut for the house).  I'm pleased with 'Jenny'; she sets off the front garden nicely, as does the new tulip 'Sweetheart'.  Interestingly, this has lovely broad, cream-margined leaves; no description of 'Sweetheart' that I can find mentions this, but I'm thinking that it may be the main attraction of this variety for me from now on!  The early yellow tulips are past, the small red ones are out and some of the others just opening; a few 'Havran' down in the bottom border, and some of the 'Uncle Tom's in the big pot.  'Silver Parrot' is in full bud.  The only other ones open are two lovely pink ones ('Sherwood'?), a relic of planting from several years ago, down under the rosemary, and making a lovely pairing; I always forget about them until they pop up.  The camellia is fading, messily as always, but it has been lovely.  The other colour is from the Brunnera, Doronicums and the honesty.

The sweet peas were planted out today, against the wall in the corner of the veg plot; the January-sown ones are still rather weedy and the germination rate wasn't all that good, so I may supplement with some sowing in situ.  The potatoes are planted, and the broad beans are all now sown, with the runner and French beans are germinating in the greenhouse.  The race is on to clear enough of the veg patch to allow me to plant out all the things I've got in the cold frame!  The propagator is full, mostly with half-hardy annuals, and with some double-decking to accommodate everything; even so, there's more that needs sowing.  There's never enough time, or enough room, at this time of year!

The wind has turned to the east again, and is quite breezy at times; yesterday I managed lunch on the bench, but today I gave up half-way through as it was just too windy.  Although it has been cold when the sun isn't out - Sunday was particularly chilly - we've had two days of lovely sunny weather and much better temperatures.  It has been quite dry, though; only one wet night recently, and the watering can has been in use.  Rain is forecast for the end of the week.

Nuthatching

We have a pair of nuthatches nesting in the nestbox.  They're going in and out intermittently, but not often enough to suggest that the eggs have hatched yet - although I did hear cheeping from somewhere down in that corner of the garden the other day.  We're looking forward to seeing the youngsters.  A wren has also been seen collecting moss down at that end of the garden; there were wren families down there last year, so we're hopeful.  The blackbird brood has hatched and the parents are busy collecting food; the apples put out on the patio are gratefully received!  Other wildlife in the garden has included five bullfinches together (three males and two females), a slowworm basking in the veg patch and, less pleasingly, a rat (probably dislodged when a logpile was uncovered).  We're having regular visits from a pair of partridges who enjoy dustbathing in the broad bean patch; deterring them is proving difficult!

After a long period of easterly and northerly winds, and mostly dry but chilly weather, we had a spell of gales from the west, followed by a warm and sunny Easter weekend, and it has been mostly sunny and dry since then.  The sun brought out the butterflies all of a sudden: a peacock, a tortoiseshell and a brimstone (also a few small things that moved too fast for identification).

The gales knocked over the wheelie bin, which had a lot of thin polythene dustsheeting in it; most of this blew away and, although I managed to retrieve some of it, there are shreds of it fluttering from the tops of the ash trees like demented prayer flags.  I hope it breaks down soon.

Camellia 'Donation'

Cowslip patch

The daffodils are fully out, and the tulips are starting; the early yellow ones by the dining room window are 
out and some of the ones in pots are well in bud.  The Epimedium sulphureum is in bloom (I managed to cut the leaves off this year before the flowers came up), as are the Doronicums and Brunnera; the Pulmonaria is coming out, and the lily of the valley is already in bud.  The Camellia 'Donation' in the pot in the front garden is doing beautifully, despite being knocked around a bit by the wind, and the cowslip patch in the lawn (now also boasting a number of primroses and various hybrids) is in full flower.  Meanwhile I'm trying to weed more parts of the veg plot to house the seedlings now coming up in the cold frame, and also to get out as many of the pink geraniums as I can before they take over.  The blackbirds are very appreciative of all the digging!

Survivors

One of my vaguer garden plans is to do something with the ground under the ash tree at the edge of the drive.  It gets plenty of sun, despite the leaf cover, so should be able to host a variety of plants; and, as it forms a major part of the view from the kitchen window, something more than the current bare(ish) soil would be nice.  The big problem is that the soil is so full of roots just below the surface that it's difficult even to poke a hand fork in there; a slightly lesser problem is the variety of weeds (ground elder, ivy, creeping buttercup and various small annuals) that inhabit the space.  A few years ago I managed to get a few erythronium bulbs in, but since then the area has had all sorts of stuff - pallets, piles of firewood - plonked on it.  The stuff was cleared last autumn and I applied a blast of weedkiller to such weeds as had survived, then sowed some hardy annual seeds there - more in hope than expectation, as the seeds were mostly from very old packets that had probably passed their sell-by date.  The other day I looked it over to see what was germinating; as I expected, it's the usual weedy suspects with no sign of anything resembling desirable plants - other than, amazingly, an erythronium leaf coming up.  So the short-term plan is now to weed out the undesirables (fiddly but relatively easy), cosset the erythronium with some blood, fish and bonemeal, apply some compost and raise some plug plants to fill the space.  All I need to do then is to keep next door's cat off it.

Late last year, finding myself short of time to get the tulips planted, I only partly cleared out the big pot at the bottom of the garden; just enough to get the new tulips in, but leaving some of the summer planting in place.  I dug out bits of the Nepeta variegata and potted them up for overwintering in the greenhouse (where they're doing quite nicely), but obviously some of the Nepeta survived in the pot, and surprisingly it's still there, despite being in quite an exposed position.  Being a low-growing plant, it must have had some protection from the penstemon and euphorbias around it.

Another surprise is a whole lot of cyclamen seedlings coming up between the paving slabs at the side of the house.  They look like Cyclamen coum, despite being some distance from the C. coums in the garden; the C. hederifoliums are closer.  Perhaps a mouse hid the seeds there?  It's a bit far for ants to have moved them. The ones lodged between the paving and the house wall can stay, I suppose - I don't expect they'll cause problems there, and it's an uninteresting area otherwise - but I don't want them between the slabs.  If I can get some of them out without too much damage, I'll pot them on; they might be candidates for under the ash tree!

The snowdrops are mostly over now, but most of the crocuses are still doing well (especially 'Cream Beauty'; 'Blue Pearl' is fading) and the blue Anemone blandas are starting.  The daffodils are very late this year - not sure why - with the first big ones (in the front garden) only opening the other day.  The little 'Tete-a-tete's have been open for a couple of weeks, but the other small daffs are still in bud.  The first show is usually from the big yellow daffs under the plum tree, but all but one clump there is coming up blind and the others are still to open.  Some of the other clumps are looking short on buds too.  They will be quite old bulbs; many were in the garden when we came here, and the ones under the plum tree were planted soon after we arrived 20+ years ago.  This may be an opportunity to replace the big varieties with something more delicate and graceful, though getting rid of the blind ones may be easier said than done; digging in the plum tree roots is neither practicable nor desirable.

Recent jobs in the garden have been the first cut of the lawn, trying to dig out bramble roots, planting a Mahonia 'Winter sun' to screen the view of the electric substation across the road and starting off the dahlias in the greenhouse.  Last year's 'Jescot Julie' produced a single giant tuber like a monster pear; 'Bishop of Auckland' has multiplied into three plants; and 'Ambition' is looking rather shrivelled, but I've planted it up in the hope that it might produce at least something from which I might take cuttings.  This year I've added 'Karma Choc', 'Juliet' and 'Blue Bayou', all now left to do their thing in a corner of the greenhouse.

The weather has been chilly, with an easterly wind, but mostly dry; this week the wind is from the north-west and is a mix of sunshine and showers (hail showers today).  A frost is forecast for tonight.

Bee activity is picking up, and there were two ladybirds basking in the sunshine in the bottom of the big potentilla in the lawn (which I will get rid of one of these days!).  One of the female blackbirds has become quite trusting, and lets me get quite close; the male is warier.  The blackbirds are starting to sing properly, and I heard a thrush yesterday.  A red kite, being hassled by a group of crows, and a pair of buzzards have been hunting over the field behind us; today a flock of redwings and fieldfares were scouring it.  And a female tawny owl has been calling in the evenings quite close by.

Back to spring

Back home after three weeks away, to find definite signs of spring in the garden.  Neighbours report that the weather has been chilly and windy, but the greenhouse's max/min thermometer shows that the sun had warmed it on at least one day well into the 20s, and the vents have opened at least twice since we came back.  When the sun comes out there is definitely warmth there, but the weather is still well able to revert to cold, windy and wet (like today).  That's March for you.

The snowdrops and cyclamen coum are all still out, as are the crocuses - some nice displays in the patio pots, appreciated yesterday by several bees.  The tete-a-tete daffodils came out this week to cheer things up further, and of course the hellebores are opening nicely.  There are a couple of violet flowers out down in the bottom border, and the first signs of brunnera flowers.  Inevitably the weeds are also starting to sprout, telling me that it's time to sow seeds!

The blackbirds and robins at least are building nests; we've also seen a pair of each of chaffinch, greenfinch and bullfinch, as well as blue and great tits.  A pheasant and a few partridges have also been around from time to time, and I saw the first bumblebee of the year around the big hellebore the other day - spring is on the way!

The sparrow hath found her an house ....

After over a week of rather cold weather, with lots of frost and some ice (and the odd light snow shower), today saw the start of something a little milder; not exactly warm, although I opened up the greenhouse to air it while the sun was on it, but above zero and bright and sunny.  The improvement in conditions seemed to please the birds, who were rather more sprightly today and more focused on their pairing up.  There have been tentative signs of nesting-mindset; I first saw a sparrow about three weeks ago pick up some grass (only to drop it again, as if it realised that it was a bit early to think of nesting), but I've seen them with feathers and other material in the past few days.  We have several sparrow nests behind the fascia boards in the roof and in other holes in the stonework, but today one sparrow obviously decided to look for new quarters. Having spotted a potential entrance under the fascia above the guest bedroom window, he squeezed his head in but clearly didn't manage to get any further; but neither could he get his head out again.  Luckily D went outside and heard the fluttering as he tried to extricate himself; in the end it took D and a neighbour, with a long ladder and a chisel, to make enough of a hole to free him.  He flew off immediately, so with any luck he may have escaped injury or shock; but presumably he'll be more careful where he tries to squeeze into in future!

The other bird highlight of the week was three red kites wheeling over the field behind the garden; apparently a pair seeing off an intruder.  We've also had visits from a male bullfinch and a marsh tit, and the food put out on the patio attracted not only the male pied wagtail (a feisty little fellow who isn't averse to taking on the robin) but on one occasion also his mate.

The hellebores are starting to flower, and bulb leaves are coming up in all the right places.  The ordinary snowdrops are starting to bloom (just waiting for the doubles now).  The forecast is for above-zero temperatures for the next week or so; all it needs is a little more rain to get things going properly.

Winterish

Plum tree in snow

We had one day of snow - an inch or two, which didn't last long - and since then it has been a mix of rain and wind, with a few more snow showers and frosty days, but nothing serious.  It has been mostly cold, with temperatures down to at least minus 5C one night; the greenhouse has been quite comfortable though (reaching 15C one day when the sun got on it!).  It's winter of a sort.


The Birdwatch count was quite respectable this year, and for once genuinely representative of what has been turning up here recently.  The birds are definitely pairing up, and most species came in two-by-two: robins, dunnocks, blue tits, great tits, starlings and pigeons, with several sparrows and blackbirds and one each of wren, chaffinch, collared dove and greater spotted woodpecker.  Other birds that have been around but didn't make the count were a pied wagtail which only comes in really cold weather, and a song thrush that seemed to have broken away from a flock of fieldfares and redwings down in the field beyond the bottom of the garden.  We've also had a flock of partridges - up to 30 - coming in the late afternoons.

Galanthus atkinsii

I haven't been tempted out into the garden much, though there's a lot I really need to be getting on with.  Some weeding in the veg garden, and under the winter honeysuckle, was much appreciated by the robins.  I'd like to clear the ground under the Viburnum davidii with a view to moving some snowdrops there; I see that the Arum marmoratum italicum, which was originally planted a few feet away and hasn't been seen for a few years, has positioned itself under the Viburnum, which is pleasing if rather puzzling!  The snow stopped the comfrey flowers, but the double snowdrops are now starting, and there's a hellebore flowering under the back of the winter honeysuckle.  The signs of spring approaching are there if you look for them!

Waiting for snow

So 2014 was the warmest year on record - not because of any big heatwave, just that the temperatures remained a notch above the norm for most of the year, and there was no really cold weather.  It still hasn't got particularly cold here; a big dump of snow just after Christmas hit the Midlands but didn't reach here, and although there were some low temperatures over the festive period they weren't severe.  So far this year it has been wave after wave of wet and very windy weather, with occasional sunshine; today was typical, with a chilly wind but some traces of warmth in the sun when it came out between the heavy showers.  Snow forecast for overnight, but rain to follow and wash it all away.  The wind is unremitting.

The greenhouse bubblewrap went up on Boxing Day, the dahlias were finally lifted last week (and the tubers look pretty healthy) and the last of the tulips were planted the other day.

The first snowdrops this year were Galanthus elwesii, with G. atkinsii just opening now.  I really must remember to lift the latter ones this year and plant them somewhere more suitable; under the Viburnum davidii would be a good place for some of them.  The winter-flowering viburnums and the winter honeysuckle are doing well, there's a Cyclamen coum trying to flower and the pink comfrey is also coming into bloom.  The first buds on the big hellebore are also starting to open.  Down in the veg plot, the garlic and Aquadulce Claudia broad beans are showing signs of coming up (confounding my pessimism about the latter; I've never done well with autumn-sown broad beans in the past, but I wasn't using a variety designed for winter then).

Although the weather hasn't been particularly harsh so far, the birds continue to enjoy the food put out for them.  The sparrows, dunnocks, robin and blackbird come regularly to the patio, and today we've had blue and great tits, a pair of chaffinches and a woodpecker on the seeds and nuts.  A wren is occasionally about, as was a goldfinch today, and of course there are the pheasants and pigeons (Lefty the lame pigeon seems to be a regular again).  The flock of small finches has been around, sunning themselves on the neighbours' roof on Christmas Day and in the big ash tree last weekend; I think they may be linnets, which would be nice.  I hope some of them stay around for the Big Garden Birdwatch later in the month.