Back home

Home again after a month away, returning to a garden definitely more springlike than when we left.  We returned to a lovely warm weekend, with the wind from the south, but followed by a chilly few days with the wind coming from the north, including a couple of almost inevitable, but very brief, mid-March snowfalls.  The warm weather brought out some of the early insect life – a few bees and butterflies (a peacock, and a pair of brimstones).  The changeable weather doesn’t seem to have fazed the birds, who are busy pairing up and nesting (the sparrows in the ‘penthouse’ have nestlings already), and there is noticeably more birdsong than before we left; a thrush (mistle thrush?) was singing lustily in the holly tree the other day.  There was also a real rarity yesterday; a marsh tit has been around intermittently over the winter, and for the first time ever a pair of them turned up in the bushes.  I hope they nest somewhere near.

The snowdrops are going over, and the large daffodils not quite out yet, but the two tubs of miniatures are flowering brightly, as are the little ‘Tete-a-tete’s in the windowbox.  The potful of ‘Exotic Emperor’ tulips, now in their third year, is well in leaf (will they flower for a third time?); I left the annuals that were sown in there last year to self-seed, and one little marigold is already bravely peeping out from among the tulip leaves.

One little marigold

As always, there are jobs to be done.  Not only the usual big tasks at this time of year, such as pruning the apple tree and buddleja (and of course the weeding, or more precisely clearing of beds), but one-offs, such as the variegated euonymus by the pond.  This has always been an erratically shaped plant and increasingly encroached on by the lawn, and it always drops some leaves in the winter, but I’ve noticed that it’s looking decidedly thin; I wonder if it’s on the way out.  I’ve taken cuttings just in case; they’re usually fairly easy to propagate that way.

Looking decidedly thin

While we were away, a number of seed-trays and pots were left to take care of themselves in the cold frame, including the broad beans and sweet peas.  The former have germinated nicely, and survived any slug/snail/mouse attentions, and the weather was relatively kind for February, but the sweet peas aren’t showing anything much.  The beans should be planted out soon, but I’ll wait until the current cold snap is past before entrusting them to the veg plot.  There are also a number of sweet William plants ready to go out, but I’ll leave them for another couple of weeks; they’re fairly tough, but they might benefit from a little hardening off.  Likewise the rooted penstemon cuttings, which can be potted up towards the end of the month.

In the cold frame