Sunshine!

Today the sun came out, little white fluffy clouds danced across the blue sky.

In the garden spring is arriving:

crocuses and grape hyacinths have emerged,

hyacinths are in full flower, 

there are daffodils of all colours and shapes,

and the chaenomeles is in flower.

The pond is full of frogspawn :-)

And I have a new front door.  Gone is the warped, tired, wooden one that needed the postman to lean against it at times in order for me to open it,

replaced with a smart new black, composite one.  Looks like wood but won't warp and swell and doesn't have gaps for the wind to whistle through.

Hope you're all enjoying some sunshine too.

The Garden Is Zinging!

The sunshine and blue skies of this weekend have really made the garden zing.

The Chaenomeles Japonica is superb this year, it's smothered in flowers!

There are clematis flowering too

Clematis Constance

Clematis Foxy

Clematis Maidwell Hall

A tulip has opened (I can't remember the name or find the label!) as has the self sown lime green spurge (euphorbia)

Under the maple the epimedium is flowering as are the self sown wild violets

The exochorda has got one flower open and the snake's head fritillaries are doing well (although there are no white ones this year for some reason).

There's just about blossom on the amelanchier

and most of the garden seems to be smiling, apart from the actinidia that is.  It looks as though the sharp frost last week has destroyed most of its leaf and flower buds - maybe it'll recover?

Poor thing!

Sunshine and Showers

I spent a lot of this weekend sheltering from showers, marooned in either the shed or the greenhouse, or dashing up the garden to the house to seek shelter and a cuppa.  But between the showers I noticed that things are definitely moving along in the garden.

The amalanchier blossom has finally opened

and the first two clematis are flowering

Clematis Maidwell Hall

Clematis Foxy

The tulips have also opened

and the honesty that's self seeded its self is in flower too.

We had a frost on Saturday night so I used my very old cloches to protect my newly transplanted beetroot and salad leaves.  

I'm not exactly sure how old the cloches are, I think they're at least between the wars.  They were given to me by a family member, glass and all.  There's a knack to constructing them (which I forget every year!) but once constructed they are amazingly solid and easy to move.

I don't have much room in my veg garden so I'm trying to be more organised with how I use it this year so I'm trying out a version of 'Square Foot Gardening'  Mine aren't exactly square, or feet, but they are organised as opposed to random!

So far I have peas (netted from the pigeons), shallots, spring onions, beetroot and salad planted.  I also plan to have dwarf beans, cucumber and leeks in this bed.  The other bed won't be square footed, it'll be runner beans and courgettes.  I'll let you know how I get on!

It's Spring!

Spring has definitely arrived in my garden now.  The chaenomeles blossom is just about out

and the lilac buds are slowly emerging.

The ferns are uncurling

and the epimediums are just beginning to dance above the ground.

Viola freckles has appeared this weekend too

as have the grape hyacinths

and the snake's head fritillaries.

The pasque flower that I thought I'd lost as it didn't appear at all last year has decided to grace us with its presence 

and the self sown cerinthes are nearly in flower too (seems very early to me!).

All in all I think we're about 3 weeks behind last year as this clematis was in full flower on 4th April last year and looks as though its got several more days before it opens this year.

And the frogs have now finished spawning - what a noise they made!

I hope spring has arrived for all of you too.

A Few Nice Days

The sun came out this weekend! The cold easterly wind dropped and the sun actually shone, it was wonderful.

This little scilla had been in tight bud refusing to open for weeks but is just feeling brave enough to open today.

I've had the heater on most nights still in the greenhouse but have been able to open the door during the day over the weekend!

My greenhouse isn't really big enough at this time of year so the conservatory is starting to be taken over by plants too.

Today in the sunshine the Chaenomeles blossom started to open

and I spied a little mouse rooting around at the back of a flower bed

and this young blue tit had a long feed of peanuts.

I've also had alot of siskins on the feeders today but haven't managed to get an picture that is vaguely in focus of them yet!

Maybe, just maybe, these few nice days will turn into more and more nice days.....

Sunshine and Fireplaces

What a difference a day makes!  All of the Easter weekend it was either cold, raining or both, and then today the sun came out and the sky was blue nearly all day.  I know we needed the rain, and I'm really grateful we had it, but being stuck indoors for all of the holiday weekend didn't help my mood.  I'm at my happiest when I'm in my garden, in fact if I had my time again I think I'd go for a career in horticulture, but today I made up for it and spent most of the day out there.

Amelanchier Blossom

But it wasn't all bad being stuck indoors as I managed to catch up on 3 episodes of Sex and Sensibility (not what it sounds honestly!).  I've always loved Art Nouveau and the Arts and Crafts Movement and found the 2nd episode about Liberty's, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his very talented wife Margaret MacDonald totally fascinating. 

My house was built in 1905, and I'm fortunate to still have three of the original four fireplaces.  I've always loved them but I'm now looking at them in a different light, my own little bits of Art Nouveau. 

This one's in my dining room and has the original tiles too.  Sadly it's missing the bar thing at the front of the grate.  When I moved in it was painted in cream gloss paint and I was so excited when, several tins of nitromors later, its original glory was revealed!

This one's in my bedroom, and has a repeated, quite simple, stylised flower pattern on.

But this one is my favourite, even though it too is missing the bar thing.  It's really ornate, even the back of the hearth has the same pattern on.

I think I really must investigate getting the first two repaired, but I must find out what the "bar thing" is really called first - google here I come.

(If you didn't see Sex and Sensibility, all 3 episodes are still available on iplayer until 19th April)

A Perfect Spring Day

It's been glorious weather here for the past few days and I've spent most of today in the garden, sowing seeds, tidying up beds, planting garlic and asparagus, but also just enjoying being out in the sunshine.
The viburnum looked gorgeous against the clear blue sky

The chaenomeles blossom is out

The bergenia is flowering away

And the spring bulbs are out in abundance

I also have a shiny new toy,

yes I bought myself an iPad last week! It's very very lovely, and was worth staying up until midnight to order the moment they went on sale! I'm using it to post this blogpost from, which is a bit different to using blogger, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. I think it's quite amazing how I took all these photos on my phone and they appeared, as if by magic, on the iPad! Ok, I know it's done via WiFi, but it's still flippin clever!

Hope you're all enjoying the spring weather too.