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.

Pink Christmas

It may be Christmas Eve, but the pinks are still flowering.  A nice little posy of them picked today for the Christmas table; the progeny of cuttings taken from a stem in a bunch of supermarket flowers some years ago.  The buds are pink, but the flowers open white with a deep pink base.  Unseasonal, but welcome.

The weather is still windy and mostly mild, although tomorrow is to be clear and colder.  Still nothing really cold in the forecast - just as well, as I haven't got round to putting up the greenhouse bubblewrap yet.  Most of the tulips are now planted.  I'm taking comfort from the memory of the winter a few years ago when the ground (and bags of compost) were too frozen to plant anything until January; the tulips still came up all the same.  Here's to a floriferous 2015!

Mild December

Despite a few frosty nights, with the frost hanging around in the shade all day on a couple of occasions, on the whole the weather has been relatively mild; particularly so this week.  Plants are refusing to die back; I'm still waiting for the dahlia stems to blacken.  There have been windy spells, and some rain, but sunshine too.  a real rollercoaster of weather.

There hasn't been much work done in the garden, other things having intervened.  The tulips went into the bottom border yesterday, with last year's leafmould as a mulch; the soil down there needs a lot of improvement.  Most of the pots are still to be planted up.

The last apples have been pecked off the cooking apple tree by the blackbirds (up to a dozen of them at a time) and the fieldfare. There's a stash of apples stored in the garage, both for us and to keep the birds going through the winter; I'm putting one or two out at a time in various corners of the garden to keep the blackbirds spread out.  There are still several robins about (one was very pleased with my leafmould moving yesterday), lots of sparrows, a few dunnocks and starlings, plenty of woodpigeons (including our lame friend, who hasn't been about much recently but has been seen a couple of times this week) and collared doves and the occasional jackdaw and magpie.  A woodpecker (gt spot) comes to the peanut container from time to time, and blue tits and great tits have also been in the bushes and occasionally bathing.  A female bullfinch has come to the patio for a bath a couple of times, a wren was checking out the vegetable garden wall yesterday and a nuthatch has been tapping away in the trees. There's usually a pheasant not too far away, and the other day two dozen partridges were wandering about the lawn.  Out and about, there are still lots of berries in the hedgerows, attracting the fieldfares and redwings; with the mild weather, the wildlife shouldn't be doing too badly at the moment.