Inspired by many of the posts in last week's How Does Your Garden Grow I thought I really should venture out into our garden. I wondered if I too had bulbs, and if my rhubarb was doing anything interesting or if the plants in the greenhouse needed watering (the answer to this always seems to be yes). Our North-facing garden can be pretty chilly especially near the house at this time of year, but following a crisp frost the sun came out so I took that as my cue and dug out my camera.
I know frost pictures are beautiful, but I'm a sun-loving girl at heart so with the sun warming things up nicely I shoved open the conservatory doors and headed out into the garden for the first time this year. There was still some of the morning's frost on show and some of the plants, especially the hostas and the Fatsia were drooping a little.
Others though seemed to be coping with the cold a little better and my alpines basket seemed the happiest of all.
I discovered some ice in my hanging metal pots and was surprised by its thickness, the thermometer in the greenhouse was registering a low of -3.2 so for this to be the only ice I found is perhaps more surprising. I've hung the pots upside down to prevent them filling up again.
The roof of the greenhouse looked pretty though.
On the remnants of our veg beds the parsley is thriving - it's one plant I can't grow from seed even after following the well known tricks. But thankfully it's pretty rampant in my dad's garden so I know I can always get a top-up from there if I need one. The yellow chard looks pretty, I'm not sure if it'll be any good for eating but I'm going to keep my eye on it.
The strawberry plants - those in the pot and in the ground - are faring better than the rhubarb right now, although there are signs of life on one of the crowns.
The sun was hitting the end of the garden and with two jumpers, a scarf, jeans and wellies it was quite comfortable in this spot for a short while. These primulas are the ones I inherited from a municipal garden last May when it was being replanted - they're clearly happy with this as they've been in flower now since the summer.
There are signs of bulb activity throughout the garden, and I was reminded that I'd moved a whole load of bulbs which were dug up last year when we replaced our patio. This also jogged my memory that I didn't get to plant my alliums, so unless someone plants them soon they won't be doing very much at all...
The Sedums too are starting to do their thing, with little Brussels sprout like buds appearing at the base of the old stems.
Back nearer to the house there's a small pop of colour from some mini cyclamens - they really are beautiful plants and I really must get some more, and larger ones to add around the patio.
So in in all it was quite promising. The only downside appears to be part of one Jasmine plant that's looking a bit brown and crunchy - it's a bit annoying as its one that's taken me ages to grow up the fence to get to the trellis, but at least it's not the whole plant.
Have you ventured out into your garden yet this year?