An exciting year ahead

I have thought long and hard about what to do with myself this year. I spent winter getting myself fit. I am now revitalised and ready for anything. It goes without saying that I will continue my gardening. The weather recently has just started to improve and I have spent a few hours tidying, pruning and planning for the season ahead.

But my big decision this year is to sign up for an Open University course. This decision has surprised me as I am already a busy person. The courses I am interested in are a Certificate in French and a computing course. I will probably do both. Whichever I decide to do first will mean at least 5 hours online each week. That means an hour each evening after work.

Something will have to go! Sadly I have decided not to write in this blog this year. My garden is small and any blogging here would be a repeat of last year! I had a great time last year and really enjoyed reading other gardeners' blogs. Thanks to everyone who has been reading and following my blog. Rest assured that I am still a dedicated gardener and always will be. Soon I will be a gardener who knows a bit more about French and computing! Au revoir.

Spring has sprung...almost

What a glorious spring day. These 2 photos show the same bunch of daffs. The snowy picture shows them 19 days ago and the sunny photo shows them this afternoon. They have survived weeks of frost, snow and ice. Isn't nature wonderful?

Today was "walking in the park" weather. Daughter and I went to Greenwich Park because she had to take some photos of crowd scenes for a school project. Everyone was out drinking in the good weather after a really terrible winter. It felt like we were all recharging our batteries.

The heathers were out in flower in the park. But the trees were bare and the bulbs are not yet flowering. I don't know what they use for manure, but the borders smelled far from fragrant! When we came home, I spread my compost over the vegetable patch. It smelt much better, richer and more earthy than whatever it is they use in the park. It has reminded me how much I enjoy being out in the garden. Here's to a better summer than last year!

As promised, here are a few of today's snow

pictures. They displayed in a different order to how I intended. The details are below with numbers corresponding to order. I'm fussing about nothing, as it is all pretty obvious!

2) My favourite shrub. A red cordyline in my front garden. Very hardy, so I have my fingers crossed that it will survive.

1) My back garden showing a bottle brush plant, a statue and fountain resembling someone in a sudsy shower, and a tiny bird bath looking more like a pint of frothy beer.

4) My bird feeder. Or non-feeder as I've never seen a bird using it.

3) Somewhere under this is a compost bin. It shows how much snow we've had so far and the same amount is forecast for this evening!

5) Daughter's snowman.

The snow is still falling thick and fast. At the moment, it is soft and powdery. Tomorrow, it is expected to turn to ice. Eek!

The lull before the storm

My British obsession with the weather continues! This is now the coldest winter for 13 years. The forecast predicts inches of snow in my part of the UK by early next week. Looking out at the garden, it is hard to believe. The sun is shining and the cats are rolling around on the patio. Small buds have bravely started to appear on my roses and the wallflowers are looking strong and healthy. BUT days of freezing weather means the ground is rock hard. If it snows now it will settle like a blanket. My new camera has a "snow" setting. It looks like I will have an opportunity to test that out soon. Watch this space for snow pictures next week!

One good thing about this cold weather

Yesterday I thought of one advantage to the freezing cold winter we are having this year. My grass has stopped growing. Yipee. In previous winters, the weather was so mild that the grass carried on growing. By the time of the first cut, it was a long and soggy mess. Now I'm racking my brain to think of another advantage. Nope. Can't think of any more.

First signs of spring

Today was very cold, as usual. But the sun shone and the birds were singing. It made my heart leap. This has been a very long, cold winter and it isn't over yet. But the first signs of spring are definitely here. My daffodil bulbs are sprouting, although later than last year. Here are some I missed when I was digging over my vegetable patch last year. I will let them flower and then move them to a flower border. Happy days are nearly here.

Jack Frost is here

Looking at my blog labels makes me realise that I spend quite a lot of time talking about the weather. That is supposed to be a very British habit. This is the coldest winter for many a year. The amount of frost and ice we have had recently is making me worry for some of my larger plants. I would hate to lose the cordyline in my front garden. It has turned into quite a specimen over the last 4 years. I'm not the sort of gardener who wraps plants up for the winter. So, as soon as we have a mild day I will have to make a tour of inspection. That won't take very long in my small garden!