A Touch of Snow

The end of January reminded us that winter wasn't quite done yet and the frosts returned with a vengeance. Despite the emergence of bulbs we knew we had to survive a few more cold days and nights before spring could really arrive and brighten the grey days.

We managed to have a couple of days away to visit my Uncle at the end of January and checking on the weather we planned to return before the snow hit. In fact we woke the next morning to find that there had been heavy snow all through the night and the woods were adorned. Thank goodness we made it back home before this landed.

I do love how the trees look when they have a covering of snow, so much so in fact that I take lots photos.

The main part of the woods was transformed with a thick layer of snow. We had such a cold spell that the snow stayed for nearly a week and didn't even begin to melt.

There was a thick covering of snow on all the trees and the paths, we could hardly see where the paths had been and we were just hoping that we weren't trampling over all the new sprouting bulbs.

Nearly every year I take photos of the trees across the field in a neighbouring farmers' field, they always seem to catch the light beautifully and especially with the snow they look wonderful.

I think this is one of my favourite pictures.

At least Finn was enjoying the snow.

After the first few grey days the sun appeared and although it was still cold the trees and shrubs looked even more spectacular.

Even Jess was happily running around in the snow.

Daffodil walk looked stunning when the sun shone, the trees were still laden with snow and even some of the bulbs were managing to poke through the snow. I can hardly wait until spring to see if all our planting in the autumn comes to fruition.

Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring

Wow, where does the time go, I can't believe we are into March already and it seems like ages since my last smallholding post. It's time we had another little tour around the woods and garden to see what's been going on. Winter is the least productive time around the smallholding, mainly due to the cold wet weather and very very short days.

As usual we had plenty of snow to finish off January. Although we got off lightly compared to some areas of the country it was so cold that it took days for it to melt away.

It did look very pretty on the trees and we were thankful we didn't have to go too far, staying in by the fire admiring the beauty outside.

After the snow came the melt and rain which emphasised the areas of the woods which will need some drainage attention later in the year. How these trees have survived I have no idea but the willows certainly enjoy the water.

At the end of January we found we had a visitor in the byre. Well, to be honest it was Jess and Finn who found her before she disappeared into our neighbour's byre. We put out some food and set up the video camera; sure enough she was living in the byre and gobbled down the food. A few days later she was in the yard and the dogs chased her to the byre again. I was a bit worried she might run into the road so went to find her. She was the friendliest little cat, wanted lots of cuddles and more food. She was a stray but she definitely wasn't feral as she tried to get in the back door and sat outside the window.

Sadly we couldn't keep her as Jess and Finn are not cat friendly dogs so our neighbour took her to the local Cat Protection League where we hope she will find a loving home.

M was working hard renovating the lounge and the heavy rain at the end of January exposed a few leaks in the outside wall, thankfully before he had insulated and plastered it. We were fortunate the weather improved a little and he was able to do some essential repair work.

When we enter February I always feel a tinge of optimism as the days begin to extend as we gain almost an extra 4 hours of daylight. We still have the weather to contend with but at least we can get up and out with the dogs nice and early.

This first week  of February was lovely, it felt great to be outside pottering around and getting the onions started off in little pots in the greenhouse.

M was also busy making more sausages, they are gorgeous and don't last too long in this household.

After another bout of snow I was delighted to see that we had lots of bulbs appearing after our mass planting session last year. Thankfully we put in loads of labels so we could see where we'd put them and there were numerous groups of greenery poking up around the woods.

This was the first early daffodil to flower, braving the elements.

While the 'White Garden' has yet to live up to it's name at least there were signs of life as the tulips were emerging and the odd crocus.

This was the second year for all the transplanted snowdrops and they put on a beautiful show, larger clumps of healthier taller flowers. Hopefully they will continue to improve every year.

We planted lots of wood anemone last year and after much searching I found this little shoot which I am convinced is the start of a plant. M was particularly underwhelmed, although there is no scale in the photo it's about 1cm tall! I can't wait to see more and eventually see some flowers.

Despite concentrating on the woods we tried not to neglect the garden too much so it was wonderful to see the Iris, Crocus and Daffodils appearing here too.

    

Erythronium is a woodland plant which we saw on a tv show and thought would be ideal in our woods. We planted lots of Pagoda (yellow) and White Beauty (white) in different areas in the woods. Sadly in one area it looked like some resident animals had taken a liking to them and the earth was disturbed around the labels. I wasn't confident any would survive but then I spotted this. Although it looked a bit like a tulip I found another 4 which looked identical so here's hoping it is what it says on the label.

Our little Hellebore suffered a bit with the snow and rain but still managed to produce a few flowers, if it gets through this winter I hope it will be better next year.

A week of mild weather gave me the opportunity to get in the garden to do some weeding and tidying up. I hadn't even noticed this but I think it is the Peony we planted last spring. Not a bad start, we might even get a flower this year.

Towards the end of February the weather was glorious and it felt very much like spring was just around the corner but how wrong could we be.

It was only a few days after this that the Beast from the East appeared and it combined with Storm Emma to bring chaos across the country. Again we got off lightly, it was really cold but thankfully we only had a smattering of snow to contend with.

Sadly the horrible weather seemed to cause Mr Mole some issues with his navigation and he ended up in the garden. Over the space of 3 days this is what he did. Aaagh!!!

This time of year also gives us the best excuse to stay inside, it's the 6 Nations, one of our favourite sporting events of the year. Finn is less impressed, preferring to be outside for another walk.

Now, well into March we seem to have turned the corner, it's much milder, the sun has appeared and there is warmth in the breeze. M is concentrating on getting the lounge finished now that the walls have been plastered and the fire has been fitted. The carpet has been chosen (sneak preview above) so we just need to get the paint and then it's full steam ahead.

Next week also sees the start of seed sowing in the windowsill propagators before we tackle the annual greenhouse clean. But in the meantime I'm trying to finish a little more knitting so I can share my latest crafty addiction. We have so much to look forward to and even more to be thankful for.

Playing Catch Up Pt 1

It's been a while since my last post but we have had wifi issues resulting in no Internet or house phone. Having no wi-fi for 2½ weeks has been a test of patience but it has also been a surprisingly pleasant respite from the daily onslaught of digital information and social media distractions. But now we are back up and running, I feel a bit behind the drag curve. As this is such a busy time of year in the garden I have a lot to catch up on in blogland so I think I'll break it down into a few separate posts.

So, Pt 1, going back to before the wi-fi nightmare takes us to about the middle of March when there were some lovely dry days and we decided to seize the opportunity to get on with some necessary and long avoided jobs.

I had been procrastinating for quite some time about cleaning the greenhouse. I had built it up in my mind to being a dull and time consuming chore but I knew it had to be done while it was quite empty and before I started sowing seeds. Emptying it was easy and to be honest (with M's help) it only took a couple of hours to clean the staging, frame and glass.

It did take ages though to wash all the trays and sort out the remaining plants, deciding which had made it through the winter and which would never, regardless of copious amounts TLC, be revived. Still, at the end of the day it was all done; we were pretty tired but chuffed with a real sense of achievement. My main reason for feeling so pleased was that I could now start sowing my veg seeds-thankfully.

First things first, I had to get the remaining onion sets into cells to get them started off before planting outside or in the polytunnel (yet to be decided).

We're still getting used to the cooler climate and different growing seasons and so I had planned to start my seed sowing approximately 3 weeks later this year. It was so cold last spring that they took ages to germinate and I'm not sure it is beneficial for the seeds to spend so much time in cool compost. It tested my patience but we got there in the end.

I'd seen these Rootrainers on the market for some time but as they seemed quite expensive I had resisted the temptation to buy - until last year when I found a deal online and decided to invest a few pounds. They're supposed to be good for sowing peas and beans etc and are designed to encourage strong roots through a process called 'air-pruning'.

They have plenty of room for the roots to grow and have a clear propagator lid, although they don't come with a tray they they seem to fit a standard seed tray. There are 32 cells in each pack with 8 'books' of 4 cells. Last year we were pretty impressed with how easy it was to open out the 'book' to remove the plant without disturbing the roots. The root systems were strong and the plants were really sturdy when we planted them out.

I got a bit carried away but that's the peas (Little Marvel, Onward and Kelvedon Wonder) and broad beans (Aquadulce) sown. We've nearly finished our final bag of frozen peas from last season so we need to grow lots more this year.

We have lots of different willows around the woods but unfortunately no weeping willows. We bought 3 of these little trees (cheap at a local supermarket) which should grow to about 6' high. We got 3 Echinaceas, a Peonie and an Astilbe at the same shop (pretty cheap too) but they've been potted up in the greenhouse before being planted out later in the year.

We also got this bargain (oh I do love to get a bargain!!) Morello Cherry tree for the orchard. You can see a plan of the orchard in the Plans tab at the top of the page.

The greenhouse is already starting to fill up with onions, seeds, overwintering Dahlias and my 8 Oaks grown from acorns, although we're hoping to plant the Oaks out in the next few weeks.

Just as we were getting used to drier and slightly warmer days and had planted out the willows, we had rain and lots of it. This is the farmers field opposite which seemed to fill up quickly overnight and drained away really slowly.

And, as if that wasn't enough we had a downfall of snow!! It's amazing how quickly the weather can change here and it has certainly kept us on our toes.

Thankfully we had some warning and managed to cover the onions and garlic with some old compost bags to keep out the worst of the frost and snow.

The gardening had to be put on hold for a day or 2 until all this had melted away.

As I lit the fire and snuggled inside with Jess and Finn, M was slightly less patient to get outside and off he went to the barn to build a duck house for the midden. We had a duck and ducklings last year but we don't think any of the ducklings survived and so M planned on making them a little safe house in preparation for this year.

It is resting on the reed bed and is tilted slightly towards the water, with the ramp easily accessible. Fingers crossed Mr and Mrs Duck reappear this year.

As the snow disappeared and the sun reappeared the sowing and planting continued but I'll leave that to the next instalment as there are photos aplenty to peruse in Pt 2.