Jostling for attention

We're not safe from cold weather yet - there is still the risk of a little snow in the coming days - but spring is definitely on its way, and with it the need to get on with all the jobs that are jostling for my attention.  The pond, which was getting clogged with weed, has been cleared up a bit; I've decided to leave a full overhaul until the autumn, to minimise disruption to the wildlife (as it was, I fished out, and returned to the water, several newts, including babies).  One major job that's now out of the way is pruning the buddleja.  It's a very mature shrub, and the operation always produces lots of prunings; I like to make as much use of these as possible, and dealing with them takes a couple of days.  Strong, long, straight stems are used to make beanpoles and stakes.  Branching tops are put aside for use as supports for peas and other small plants that need propping up.  Fragile, twiggy bits are used to make a path through the fruit bushes; these are conveniently alongside the buddleja, which makes things a bit easier, but I have to start by clearing up the twiggy remains of the previous year's path.  The cleared area gets a layer of old cardboard (flattened-out old boxes etc) - this rots into the ground over the year - and on top of this I throw down the twigs and walk on them to crush them.  It's a rough-and-ready sort of path but it works well enough.  The soft prunings - the leaves, old flowerheads and some of the very smallest twigs - go in the compost bin, and to accommodate them I always need to clear out the bin whose contents have been rotting away over the winter and re-fill it with material from the other bin, mixed with the prunings.  Reflecting, as I did so, on how I was going to use the rotted compost, I remembered that it's nearly time to prepare a trench for the runner beans, so a bagful was used to get that job done too - and that required digging out some couch grass that was colonising that bed.  And, looking up from the bean trench, I noticed that another stone has fallen out of the top of the wall behind the apple cordons; I had been planning to do some repair work there this winter, and it would be useful to get it done before the apples start producing shoots and before the lily-of-the-valley, which also lies in front of the wall, appears.  I might tackle that over the Easter weekend, weather permitting, as well as lifting, splitting and teasing the weeds out of the crocosmia.  And that's only a few of the jobs that are shouting "me, me" whenever I look out at the garden.

Meanwhile there are even more jobs needing doing in the greenhouse.  Normally by this time of the year I've started a lot of my seeds off, but so far only the tomatoes, aubergines, peppers and chillies are sown (on a windowsill indoors, and doing well so far; and a pot of basil seeds has just joined them).  The dahlias have now been potted up, or at least those that have survived the winter in good enough condition to grow on; in addition to 'Bishop of Auckland' and 'Ambition' (quite a few tubers of these now),  and 'Sam Hopkins' purchased last year, I now have tubers of the fashionable 'Cafe au Lait' (bought from the supermarket, a snip at 4 for £7).  Greenhouse planting should now be a little safer; I think I have identified, and blocked up, the mouse's entry point.  There's a very small gap between the greenhouse frame and the wall against which it stands (it's a lean-to), which I had blocked with scraps of bubblewrap (I was thinking of draughts, not rodents); the bubblewrap filling has disappeared.  I've replaced it with some more substantial bits of plastic (old yoghurt pot lids) which are not so removeable.  Sorry, mouse.

Some of the plants in the greenhouse, especially those such as the penstemons and osteospermums that were brought hastily in to protect them from the Beast, are now being stood outside during the day, and the cold frame propped open; it will soon be time to wean plants off the relative warmth of indoors and make space for the new seedlings.  The temperature in the greenhouse has dropped to low single figures several times this winter, but it can't be too bad in there as there are buds on some of the fuchsias and flowers on one of the osteospermums.  It's only the forecast of frosts in the next few days that is stopping me from taking the bubblewrap down; I tend to leave it up too long, and of course it reduces the light levels in there.

Colour is very slowly returning to the garden.  The big daffs are starting to bloom; the lesser celandines in sunny spots are coming out (they are actually weeds but acceptable ones); and a few slightly battered violets are showing among their leaves.  Two of the orchids in the lawn have also put their leaves up, so they have been protected from trampling and, eventually, mowing.  The hellebores look quite good; the one by the hedge has produced a self-sown offspring with white freckled flowers, so I may try to move that to a better place.

Lesser celandines - any colour is welcome at this time of year!

Big daffs starting to come out under the plum tree

A few sweet violets

Having said last week that I hadn't seen any signs of nesting, the very next day there was a sparrow gathering grass, and a day or two later a hen blackbird had a beakful of moss and a crow flew over carrying a stick.  The sparrows are jack-in-the-box-ing in and out of the hedge, pigeons are canoodling in the plum tree, dunnocks frisking at each other and chaffinches chasing off rivals.  The insect world is livening up too: a small ginger bee and a bumblebee have been about (the latter enjoying the crocuses), and the first butterfly of the year - a male brimstone, as usual - appeared at the weekend.

On the down side, one of our male pheasants has been killed - two wings and a bit of connecting bone were left on the lawn yesterday.  It looked like a sparrowhawk job.  I don't think it was my friendly pheasant, as one answering his description is still around, and seeing off rivals.  I wonder if his fondness for standing under the shrubs is partly that he's protected there from aerial assault?