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.

There Goes January

Sitting here on a mild and sunny February afternoon the short, dark days of winter do feel a very long way away. In fact we were extremely fortunate to experience really mild weather during the whole of November and December with only a couple of cold and crisp days. At times it was hard to believe that it was Christmas at all. Indeed Christmas came and went in a flash and was closely followed by an unexpected bout of flu. Thankfully I was only ill for a couple of days but I really have not felt so poorly for many years. M skipped the flu and moved straight to a lingering cold. However, I guess it's good to get all the illnesses out of the way at the start of the year.

When the frosts did arrive the woods looked lovely, coated in a fine dusting of white sparkles.

As the greenhouse is unheated I was hoping that our plants would survive the plummeting temperatures, at least they weren't covered in snow!!

The sunrise through the trees always looked wonderful, a little teasing that the winter was speeding past and hopefully spring would be along any time soon.

Winter is always very quiet in the garden, with the ground hard with frost there's not much to be done outside but plan for the year ahead.

We were astounded to see bulbs emerging during December, confirmation of the mild winter we had experienced so far. By the 2nd of January these daffodils were already looking great.

This photo was also taken on the 2nd January and probably the earliest snowdrops we've had here. It was wonderful to see such an early sign of spring.

Even some of the bluebells decided to make an early appearance.

After a serious lack of wood anemone flowers last year I was dubious that they would return and even less convinced that we would have any flowers. It was incredible to spot some tiny anemone plants and with a couple of fine flowers.

  

I never know when exactly the primroses are supposed to flower as we seem to see flowers almost all year round. These beautiful early flowers were brightening up the wild garden which was wonderful as so much else was dormant.

During the autumn I sowed some Red Campion seeds and in January they were just big enough to prick out and pot up into tiny cells to grow on. The tray was from my aunt so this was the first time I had used it and I have to say it was extremely fiddly. However, after a few hours work I had 137 small Red Campion plants!

Even the cuttings from my Aunt's garden seemed to have survived and were starting to show some signs of new growth. As January drew to a close we got a little reminder that winter wasn't quite done with us yet but I'll leave that story for another day.

The Last Days of Autumn

It is hard to believe that the year has finished, Christmas is becoming a distant memory and we are already at the start of 2019. We have been so busy that 2018 year appears to have disappeared in a haze. Sadly during October my Aunt died and therefore much of the month was dedicated to her funeral and looking after my Uncle. In between trips away there were a few things going on around the smallholding so here's a quick catch up on October and November, the final flurries of Autumn.

At the start of the October the peppers plants were all beginning to look like they were approaching the end of productivity. I decided to take all the fruits off before we lost them to frost and mould. We now have a huge bag of chopped peppers in the freezer which we can use during the winter to add to stews, bolognaise etc.

 

 A couple of years ago we hired a wood chipper to get rid of a lot of the sticks around the woods and at the same time create some paths. Four days of wood chipping nearly did us in so, we saved our pennies and this year we bought our own. The wood chipper runs off the tractor and the main benefit is the ability to do short stints at a time depending on the weather. We tried to complete some of the paths but they look a little like zebra crossings so there is definitely more work to do there.

The 'White' garden also got the chipper treatment and looked wonderful, even on the first day when the path was only just emerging.

By the end of the next day the path through the 'White' garden was almost finished and seemed to set the whole area off really well.

I always get a bit fed up with the tomato plants at the end of the season and they look so straggly and messy. It's around this time that I remove all the fruit, whether they are ripe or not and remove all the plants.

With all these tomatoes it was time to get the chutney on, a tomato chutney and a green tomato chutney. Unfortunately when the second lot was nearing completion we sat down to eat and it caught the bottom of the pan. The chutney tastes fine but I'm not sure my gorgeous jam pan will ever quite be the same again. I've tried to clean with a combination of heat, water, white vinegar and a lot of elbow grease. It's almost clean but it's in the naughty corner until I can face it again in the new year.

The latest Clematis in the 'White' garden decided to show us that it should be there and we had one very large bloom.

This was Actaea, we bought a couple to put in the 'White' garden. Although the foliage has a chocolate brown tinge, the flowers are beautiful spikes of tiny white flowers.

The weather during October wasn't too bad although I always find the early afternoons are depressing as we approach winter.

This was a lovely little Rudbeckia which mum gave me. There were lots of little plants in the pot so we planted one in the woods. This was it merrily flowering away, the day before the deer found it!!

Sometimes when the nights begin draw in there is nothing better than cuddling down in front of the toasty fire.

We had quite a lot of geraniums in the garden so thought we may be able to pot them up, pop them in the greenhouse and see if we could save them over the winter. I also managed to sow some seeds, Nigella, Cornflower, Calendula, Cowslip, Ragged Robin and Red Campion.

All the dahlias were brought in for the winter, along with the lavender and on the right hand side are some cuttings I took from my Aunt's garden.

On the deer war front again we bought some larger and sturdier tree protection for the orchard. The fruit trees were quite badly damaged in the summer so we're hoping that this may give them a chance next year.

The orchard looked quite tidy with the new mulch mats and tree protectors on. Fingers crossed for a bumper harvest next year.

M cut and stacked some logs from our woods, they'll be ready for use next year once they have dried out.

I also got out and about, collecting, breaking and stacking sticks for kindling. You might be able to guess, but M stacked the ones on the left and mine are on the right 😂

At the beginning of October M suggested another spot of strimming. It had been so mild that the weeds and grass were still growing so I'm glad we made the effort.

I managed to complete the 'White' garden in one day which gave me room to plant out some of the Delphiniums and Foxgloves I had grown from seeds. I was hoping they would get some roots out before the temperatures dropped too much.