January 2009This year began cold and frosty, then wet and very windy, turning our garden into a muddy mess, which only our ducks enjoyed.
Thoughts turned to what we will be growing this year, and the excitement of choosing and chitting our potatoes. This year we are trying Epicure, the most popular early potato in
We are also choosing vegetable seeds, comparing which varieties do best with us and only growing those vegetables we like to eat.
While contemplating all this, I have noticed some Golden Bunch crocuses flowering bravely in the chilly January air. There are other definite signs Spring is unfolding; the birds - mostly Great Tits, Robins, and Wrens - are singing, claiming their territory and calling for a mate. The blackbirds and hooded crows are already paired and defensive of their territories.
At times the sun is deceptively bright and we are fooled into thinking the season is more advanced than it really is, until a sudden hail shower delivers an icy slap, sending us indoors to dream by the fireside.
Hi Mark and Eileen.
ReplyDeleteIt has indeed been a different winter to the ones we have experienced in recent years. Even though it has got warmer I don't trust it to stay that way, or to be continue the present battle between the warm Atlantic stream and the cold East that has given a few storms and a lot of rain - though up here where I am we have missed a lot of the worst so far.
Lilly got sent a lot of seeds and I hope to get her digging to follow in Karen's footsteps (huh - early days yet but she is displaying some interest). I wish you all the best for this coming year and lets hope for a less wet and a much warmer summer than last year.
Paul and Lilly.