Spring has finally sprung

Thought I would try and write a less frantic blog post this time, though I think that will be hard as its such a busy time. I'm struggling to find time to write my blog and I'm behind on reading all my favourite bloggers but I'm sure I'll catch up soon. I've been busy in both the garden and at the allotment. In the garden my spring plants are finally getting going, with masses of primroses and an ornamental cherry blossom whose flowering was short but very sweet.

The daffodils are just finishing but they have been lovely, amongst others I have 'Jetfire' and 'Minnow', the coolish weather has kept them flowering for such a long time. Another plant which seems to have liked the cool weather has been the violas and the pansies which have really taken off again in my garden. My tulips are just starting to colour up.

One exciting sighting has been a flock of birds in a tree in the park near my house, I walk through it on my way home from work and a couple of evenings, at 5.50-6ish, I've walked past and there has been a flock of biggish birds making a lot of noise, I would describe it as trilling, but on mass. The first time I walked past I knew they weren't anything normal but I couldn't really get a good look to see them. Anyway they were there again the next evening and this time I stopped and tried to get a good look, they were the size of a blackbird but sort of plumper and light coloured, plus they had a crest on their head. So I texted my bird guru, my brother Will, and he said they would be Waxwings (this page has a link to listen to their sound, I just played it and confused Bob my cat, his ears were twitching all over the place!), gorgeous birds over from Scandinavia, he thought they were having a pre-roost gathering and would soon be flying back home. Well they've gone again now, not seen them since, but a lovely surprise.

At the allotment my fruit bed is coming on a treat, I've got masses of flowers on my redcurrant, going to be my best harvest yet and my gooseberry bush likewise has lots of flowers and the bees have been busy there. I think I'm going to have to properly net the bush this year, as much as I love the birds, this crop is for me.

Its peak rhubarb season and as with many other bloggers I've just started harvesting mine, my first dish was a rhubarb and ginger crumble which was delicious. I have some plans, if I have enough, to have a go at making some rhubarb wine, following the advice of the lovely John Wright, a recipe he posted in the Guardian in 2011.

I've planted my onions and shallots, which I got going in modules and my garlic is doing well, there are some tentative plans to build a sort of greenhouse in the corner of this bed so I've had to put my maincrop onions in one of the other beds.

I've some broad beans which I sowed in modules, the ones I sowed direct have not come up yet, neither have my peas! I never have much luck with sowing direct.

My potatoes are in and I'm waiting for the first shoots, though we've had a few light frosts this week so hope they will be OK.

I've been trying to finish off the structure of my allotment, last year I divided the big main plot into 3 beds, though the paths at the bottom end of the plot were not finished as this bit was a mass of buttercups and grass. I've been finishing off the ends of the beds and the paths. I can't decide whether to dig up this green path in the picture below and create a woodchip path. It looks quite Ok at the moment, but if you look closely its full of buttercups, though maybe if I keep it short like a lawn the grass will take over. Will leave it for now and see whether it causes much trouble. The patch of earth next to the fence has got my thornless blackberry plant, three raspberry canes, which are just starting to come up and a tayberry, which I'm hoping will get going this year. I've done my final digging of the year digging over these bottom beds, with plenty of muck, this is where my squash and courgettes will go. I'm hoping for better things for these this year.

I've had my first and probably my last crop from the only surviving plant of Purple Sprouting Broccolli. I planted them too late and most got demolished by slugs, note to self, be organised this year.

Finally a quick thanks to Anna at Green Tapestry for the lovely gift in the post, some foxgloves seeds, I'll sow them in a month or so, one of my favourite flowers.

Annie's lost the plot....

Under a blanket of snow!

Its started snowing in the early hours of Friday morning and its been snowing ever since. I thought we had a lot earlier in the year but this is incredible, made worse by a brisk wind which is causing big drifts. I walked up to the allotment this afternoon as I realised that I'd left the spade there and we needed it to clear some of the snow! It is one pristine view, you are can't even see where the raised beds are.

It was up to our knees in places. This is the most snow I've seen for a very long time.
In the garden I got the ruler out (sad I know) and on the lying snow on the bench it was 8 and a half inches, ~21cm. But it is much deeper than that where it has drifted.

Poor Bob, I can't even show you any pictures of him as he is just not going out! But I can't blame him the path onto the grass is deeper than him. We've cleared a path to the side so he can at least get out. The snow is blowing into the back door making it hard to even get out of his cat flap.

 My poor sweet pea seeds, will be shivering in the mini-greenhouse.

The front garden is covered too.

Looks set to stay for a while as well as staying cold most of the week.

So I've lost the plot for a while so I'm taking advice from Bob and snuggling in for the rest of the day and he's an expert.

The thaw is on.

Lets hope so anyway. I'm ready for the snow to go now, we've had snow on the ground here for 12 days and whilst it looks pretty I want to see my garden properly again. I've been out this morning to top up the bird feeders, trying to entice the birds for the RSPB Garden Birdwatch which I'm going to do tomorrow, and you can just hear a constant drip, drip, drip.

The pots with my tulips in all still have their snow hats.

At least the sun is out. We had a top up of snow last night but I think its due to disappear soon and I think rain is forecast for later tonight. I feel for all the people at risk of yet more floods.

Bob will be happy when it has gone, but he's basking in the sun on the windowsill next to me while I write. He sits on there until even he gets too hot and then comes and sits on my knee which makes writing difficult!

The view from the window here can be a bit distracting, out onto the allotment at the back and on towards Castle Hill.

My seed order arrived from Sarah Raven this week, a package of promise for a colourful summer ahead. I didn't actually need too many vegetable seeds this year so I've just ordered a few new varieties to try but I want to try and grow more flowers for cutting this year so I've been seduced by all the gorgeous photos in Sarah's catalogue and order some flower seeds.

So I'm going to try a few that I've grown before like 'Black Ball' Cornflowers, sunflowers (I'm trying the wine-coloured 'Claret', some white Larkspur, Verbena bonariensis (which used to self-seed in the garden but the recent cold winters here have put paid to that) and a mix of Sweet Peas called 'Amethyst', more Jewel colours. Then a few that I've not tried before like Tithonia rotundifolia, which Monty Don always raves about and is a star of his Jewel Garden, Orlaya grandiflora, Salvia viridis (Blue Clary), Malope 'Vulcan', Dahlia 'Bishops Children', Echium 'Blue bedder' and a flower with the gorgeous name of the Blue Lace flower, Didicus, which has pale blue scented umbels. Bliss.

Finally, I thought I would post a picture of the Amaryllis which I got for christmas, I potted it up on the 9th January, It had been in a box and had obviously started growing in there which was a bit of a problem as it was growing sideways!

It has straightened up a bit but the stalk hasn't grown very high before it has started flowering. Oh well, the flower is beautiful though. The variety is 'Apple Blossom' and it is white with a delicate pink centre.

They are weird plants aren't they!?

A blanket of snow

So snow arrived in Huddersfield on Friday but in nowhere near the quantities that they had in the South-East. But a covering none the less and enough to get on my cat Bob's nerves. He's not a fan!

The Witch hazel, now stands out against the white snow.

My local park, which has been featured on the blog before, was busy with people making the most of the snow, sledging down the few little slopes. The recently created lake is frozen.

But in the midst of the park is a warm haven, the restored conservatory, with its tropical planting, was a delight, and all the better with a pot of tea.

However last night we caught the edge of the snow coming in from the east, it started at 10 o'clock and was still snowing till late this afternoon.Its the most snow I've seen I think since I moved to Huddersfield, this is my 7th winter, about 5 inches of standing snow but deeper in parts where the wind has blown it. As with all the lovely winter scenes that have been posted on my favourite gardening blogs the last few days, its amazing what a transformation it makes on the garden.

It has landed on any surface and built up a little, so there is a lovely soft haze to my garden chairs, the bench has a billowy cushion, the washing line is thicker than normal and there are lovely little round finials on my garden fence!