Cold again

In my last post I said that no particularly cold weather was forecast for a couple of weeks; and, for that period, it stayed mild, but with strong winds.  Then, this past week, we’ve had the cold weather again: overnight temperatures in the region of -4C, and staying low in the daytime, but fortunately with clear skies, sunny days and no rain or snow.  A couple of mornings have been white with frost, and there’s a clear line down the lawn dividing the ‘cold’ side, where the sun doesn’t reach at this time of year, from the side where the grass thaws out by day.  The advice not to walk on frozen grass doesn’t count for much when areas such as the compost corner and the summerhouse (where we store the apples) are at the bottom of the garden. 

It hasn’t been a good time for much gardening.  Some leaf-raking, weeding and cutting back got done in the dry spells before the cold hit, but in recent days time outdoors has been spent filling up birds’ feeders, scattering additional crumbs in suitable corners to provide not only breakfast but also supper for avian visitors, and putting out apples to keep the half-dozen or so blackbirds happy. 

It’s the Big Garden Birdwatch next weekend, and, although there are plenty of birds around, I’m not confident of a wide variety of species coming to be counted.  The regulars are here in quantity, but I haven’t seen a wren for a few weeks, and there have been only occasional sightings of the long-tailed tits (up to eight at a time), chaffinches and great tits.  A woodpecker (greatspot) was here yesterday, and a female bullfinch has been picking over the plum tree for a day or two; but that’s it.

The early snowdrops started appearing just after New Year, but there haven’t been many other opportunities for cutting flowers for the house.  The hellebores (not easy to keep looking good in a vase) have started flowering; they were knocked back a bit by the frost, but are recovering. The first daffodil leaves are pushing through, however, under the plum tree and in the front garden, and in the tubs where the miniature daffs are planted; just before the cold snap I top-dressed them with compost from last year’s tomato pots, which I hope will have protected them from the most recent freeze.