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....

brrrr....chilly..

cold and beautiful, the hills catch the last of todays sun.
Abbey makes faces at all the other horses as she comes down to the gate, modelling her red tartan raincoat... the horses have been turned out in the snow but for a shorter period than they would normally be out, they like to get out but complain they are starving by the time they come back in.

she discovers the camera is not edible.....

once she's in and has food she is more disposed to be nice to her fellow field mates, little Buttons would take the hay out of her mouth if he could reach!

at home Smokey Tiptoes sits on the mat and looks at the snow but doesn't go out...she's a house cat now!

and Daisy gets to stay in bed all day. Tansy did go out for five minutes but declined to have an 'in focus' photograph today. I should try to get one her on 'her' futon...no other cats allowed on it apparently, I haven't tried sitting on it yet so I'm not sure if I'm included in the 'get off!!'