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

Planting bulbs, despite the time of year

 It's an odd time of year to be planting bulbs, but that's what I've been up to.

Firstly, some fritillaries and mini-narcissi 'rescued' from the DIY store's reductions shelf.

I thought it was too cold to plant them outside (this week the overnight temperature has really dropped), so I put them in pots and left them in the porch, where they'll be cool but hopefully not frozen. In spring, I'll either bring them indoors or just place in the garden somewhere easily visible from the house. 

Secondly, this alien looking growth. 

I deliberately bought a piece of ginger root with signs of a shoot on it, kept it in its supermarket plastic bag in a warm spot in the kitchen, and let the shoot grow. It's done better than I expected - there's a little bulb growing and it even seems to be putting out roots

So I've chopped it off, keeping a little of the original root, and potted it up.

For now, it's in a plastic bag/mini greenhouse, during daytime on a windowsill above a radiator, and at nighttime in the warmth of the airing cupboard.

Hopefully by summer, I'll have home-grown ginger to harvest.

Purples and reds - with a little bit of blue

 The daffodils have finished flowering now and, with tulips and honesty in flower, the garden has turned all red and purple with blue splashes from forget-me-nots and pansies

 There's even a solitary snake's head fritillary in flower
















and the first of the pink bells

purple pansies and deep red daisies