splashes of colour

very unkempt garden awaiting much weeding.......little splashes of colour appear..

these are so beautiful, I always forget they are there until they appear...

Smokey Tiptoes, camoflage against the stones, she's getting fat! from prime ratter to fat house cat in one change of owner.....

the crocus are another splash of colour, there are a couple of groups of these, mostly I plant crocus and they are never seen again....my Mum gave me these bulbs.

and the Snow Flakes come out in their little hidden spot, right between the rowan and the compost bin.

spring is not quite here....yet

wrapped up four seed trays of onions, planted a couple of days ago. they may be some time coming up...I usually do them round about christmas or new year.......onions may be small this year then! under the yellow wrap(old daffodil bag) are spring onions. there are also three small pots of carrots for an early treat off to the right. I think I might start tomatoes and some other things in the house now, its getting on in time(indeed it never stops and sometimes runs quick?)and I don't want things to be too far behind for the growing season. I also might put some potatoes in buckets into the greenhouse this weekend.

the greenhouse min/max themometer this morning showing a low of -5C and a high for yesterday of 18C, I did leave the greenhouse door open during yesterday and its open today. the only problem with manual opening and closing is that I will not be home from work till 10pm and it will be below freezing by then, the onion seeds will just have to cope.

its a stunning morning, went for a short ride on Abbey just to practise opening and closing gates. her bed, and night feed and hay, is all ready for Fiona to bring her in tonight.

starting to get spring fever

greenhouse glass washed inside and out, so you can see right through now! it was a warm enough day yesterday to get this done, I think its still a bit cold to start planting but I'll probably start fairly soon. my seed order has arrived and the garden plan made.
and the snowdrops are out, they tend to be closed tight in the freezing mornings and open out a bit as the day goes on. its forecast to be really cold this weekend.
the underneath view of a double snowdrop, very pretty.
the helleborus are still not fully open, pretty to look at the undeneath though, like the snowdrops.

goodbye old friend

picture taken at the caravan garden in 2004.May supervises my weeding

my gardening friend May died this morning, she's not been well for a long time. she was a very big source of my gardening knowlege and a big donator of some beautiful plants. she'll be able to watch me weeding from her gardening heaven now. I wrote of her before in this previous post on May's gardens

nearly snowdrops!

slowly, slowly the snowdrops start to peep out, there are some up at the farm in flower already-in a sheltered bit of woodland.

the catkins come out on the twisted hazel.

watching a Parelli Clinic

no flowers yet

in previous years there has been more to photograph at this time of year, perhaps last years constant rain has rotted things away, or the very cold temperatures are holding things back a while. hmmmm.....not to mention my guilty neglect of the garden last year. this helebore is holding very tightly to its buds, but not opening. I have two others who are looking decidedly neglected, have very poor stems and no flowers at all, will see how they fare this summer and remove them after next winter if they no longer perform.

I think these are 'snowflakes' Leucojum vernum, usually flowering a bit later than the snowdrops but there are no snowdrops to be seen....

and I think these are crocus, as usual I have not labled things so its more of a surprise!

the greenhouse temperature gauge, which I haven't checked for weeks, was showing a low of -10C and a high of 11C. so it must have been much colder outside, well I'll just have to get an outside thermometer too if I really need to know!

oh hai!

Abbey has a habit of turning her back on me when she sees me coming with the camera, she must have decided this was her good side...

I'm still trying to get used to this camera, a Canon S5 IS which I've had since last April, its not been out a lot this year, the constant rain meant it wasn't out often. it seems fine in the sun and bright light but I haven't really got the hang of fading light, I get a lot of out of focus shots or camera shake.....time to re-read the instructions for info!

lets have a good year!!

lots of hedgerows and trees have been taken out round the farmlands, nice to see these three old ones still here. the greenhouse temperature gauge shows a low of -8 C to a high of 6 C.

ice forms over the running water(its a burst mains pipe, making its own path down the lane)

very pretty

also very pretty!!

and Tansy, on 'her' futon. she's sharing with a stuffed dog....