Last November I promised you that I would resume regular blogs a.s.a. the bulbs would show themselves; they are above ground! Since we had a storm with wind speeds up to 108 km/h in my area yesterday, I visited Hunky Dory this afternoon, to check if all was well. Thankfully it was.
If you are reading this in the affected areas with snow blizzards or fires in the USA, I am wishing you strength!
We had 1cm of snow last Sunday and I was over the moon...I cannot begin to imagine what you must be going through over there.
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| After an hour the rain returned |
So instead of just checking, I actually pulled up my sleeves and tackled the first gardening jobs of 2025.
I dragged some old artichoke branches to the compost heap, put some old cardboard on for good measure and watered my Spider plants that are living in the greenhouse. Next I topped up the frog pond (the level had dropped despite the rain) and let some water out of my water butts, as they are predicting night frosts for this week.
As I told you in blog 1, I am planning to try runner beans, climbing courgettes and climbing pumpkins this year, so I built them a frame. I used some old bright blue plastic rope the old geezer who had the garden before me had left behind in the shed: loathe it, but waste not, want not. Hopefully the greenery will cover that blue stuff pretty quickly.
See? I told you! Bulbs! They are narcisii, paperwhites.
During the winter months I gasp for green shrubs, and my Elaeagnus Ebbingei does not disappoint! From a 30 cm baby it has grown into a thug I now need to curb in its expansion, as it has totally overgrown the path. I will wait until late February and then will lift its canopy, unless it is safe to do it sooner, I must research that.
My kitchen sage is doing well; here you see it enjoying the sunshine.
And so is the rosemary, already starting to bloom! Oh dear, that night frost...
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| The malus looking pretty |
Last winter the birds had eaten all the tiny apples, but so far they are still hanging proudly.
Can you see the clouds starting to gather? Always too good to be true, blue skies in January.
But I really wanted to build that frame, so I soldiered on.
Must say I am pretty pleased with my effort. And I can't wait to put the seedlings next to it. But that will have to wait!
The Hellebore next to the frog pond is showing colour. It used to be apricot coloured, but reverted to pink after a year (pissing me off, as I paid a lot of money for it to be apricot). Still, it is very pretty in pink too, and it is just about the first thing to start blooming, so it's forgiven.
Have a lovely weekend!
Renée
