New beginnings

I've sadly neglected this blog over the last year, but if there's a time to pick it up again it's now when the garden is coming back to life after the winter. Yes, I'm too late for snowdrops, the first sign of spring; the year has moved on too quickly, and this year hasn't brought the late snow of 2018.

Here's a pictorial round up of what's in flower at the moment



weird and wonderful snake's head fritillaries












early blossom - forsythia, flowering currants, the dwarf peach tree (which rather oddly has flowers in two shades of pink this year), and the over-the-fence bird cherry

and polyanthus in various colours from purple and deep red to these pale pinks

March winds.....

 March is definitely going for the 'coming in like a lion' route this year. After a cold but sunny end to February, the weather has changed to wet and windy. I put extra pegs on the laundry yesterday to stop it floating away, and last night must have been even windier as we woke to find the compost lid drifted off behind the fruit bushes, tubs of flowers over-turned, and the hazel clematis support and canes holding a climbing rose knocked over.




Luckily nothing seems damaged - though some dead wood from the climbing rose had broken off. Fortunately today is sunny and quiet, so after a few scratches and rose thorns digging into my fingers the garden is more or less back in order (I haven't scrambled after the compost bin lid yet though) and I can go back to enjoying the early Spring flower display.




There are still snowdrops flowering but they're beginning to be out-shone by the later flowering bulbs - daffodils, crocus, and a solitary hyacinth - and polyanthus.

 The forsythia, though, is still only in bud, so maybe there's more cold weather to come. I hope not, I'd rather like March to go out 'like a lamb' with sunshine and the first real heat.

 I've also spotted rhubarb pushing it's way up - though some warm day I should weed out the forget-me-not seedlings before they overwhelm it!

Easter

 Easter weather turned out rather gorgeous - two days of feeling like summer had arrived!

The front flower beds are filled with daffodils, while forsythia and bergenia are making a bright splash in the back garden

There are buds on the apple tree and blossom on the peach next to the kitchen wall

 Polyanthus still flowering, in all shades

 grape hyacinths/muscaria

 flowers on the self-set flowering currant

huge patch of bergenia

hyacinths

Going out like a lion.....

 The last few days of March definitely proved that the month was going out like a lion, with dark threatening clouds massing over us.

High winds brought down branches and trees on the nearby playing fields and in the wood, but fortunately all the allotment greenhouses and cloches seem ok.

A smaller scale calamity was the breaking of many of the daffodils in the garden - now cheering up the house even though they're a bit tattered and torn.

March - waiting in the wings

 Despite the cold wind and threats of snow, buds are opening on trees and shrubs, and new shoots are appearing all over the garden.

I'm especially glad to see these - day-lilies picked up through Freegle last autumn. Some seem to be trying to push out of the ground completely, so I've added an extra layer of soil over their roots. I've never grown these before so I'm really looking forward to flowers on them this summer.

The blackcurrant seems almost ready to burst into leaf


and,after trying on and off all through winter, the forsythia at last looks near to flowering

More leaf buds - a flowering currant this time






and a clematis

a real sign of Spring - bluebell shoots.


Foxglove rosettes spreading everywhere again!

 The veg patch isn't quite so healthy looking. The cauliflowers which I hoped would crop about now are still looking frosted and nearly done-for, but there are salad leaves growing - spinach (left) and American land cress - I'm also found self-set lambs lettuce but picked most of it already.

Inside the windowledges are filled with seedlings - tomatoes here, and red onions, cayenne peppers and celeriac, with more set in the heat of the airing cupboard.

Two gifts

First, some daffodils from the shop to cheer up the house and pretend that Spring is here. I picked some forsythia from the garden which will hopefully burst into flower, and found some fallen pussy willow twigs on the playing fields.













And from a friend, a double layered box of apples - very handy as the ones I have in store are ripening and rotting too quickly. I had to move things round quickly to find space, so pumpkins are having to share space with apples.

Still snowy...

 The Boxing Day snowfall is still here - thawing slightly during the day but freezing again at night.

















The forsythia continues to flower bravely...

really early daffodils

...and other flowers are re-emerging

polyanthus

polyanthus

red cabbage

but these cauliflowers seem lost completely

April flowers

April Fools Day was lovely and sunny - and fooled me into believing the rest of the month might be the same but it's already back to gloomy and cold.
Still the garden's flowers are brightening things up a bit.
















There's still lots of daffodils about but some later flowers appearing too.

















dwarf Red Riding Hood tulips in flower






and the larger Appeldoorn variety in bud




















flowering currant hiding the fence






wallflowers spilling across the patio

grape hyacinths/muscaria in pots

pale pink hyacinths

a riot of polyanthus flowers

forget me nots

and the first flower from the 'rescued' pansies