SNOWBOUND - ESCAPE TO THE VILLAGE

Ah at last - the snow has gone. It took me two days to shovel my way to freedom and boy was I glad to see another human face. As I walked up to the village, after three days of increasing cabin fever I felt like I was on the set of one of those disaster films where you awake to find you are the only person left on the planet. Drama Queen - me? Surely not.

Anyway up. Now the snow has melted you can see what has become of your garden plants. Survived better than you expected? See, plants are tougher than they look. They certainly fare better than most of us. I forgot to strap up two cabbage palms, (Cordyline australis)  - they hate snow sitting in their crevices look sorely sorry  (sound like anyone you know?). Their leave are flattened, pasted to their stems forlornly hang-dog. One of them is a definite goner, with a mushy stem from freezing and thawing. The other will take a few months to brighten up but will be fine. See - it pays to dash around with the fleece. However, I was saving my energy for my snow escape and I knew this would be the likely consequence of my neglect. If I am to be honest, I really did not like the bronze one anyway, it's a sort of lack-lustre-dull-neither-here-no-there colour. I prefer the red and green cordylines so divine intervention has killed it off for me. Anyway, planted out a few new Hellebores, which I squeezed like sponges as I took them out of their pots, before planting. Very very wet. Still they will be happy in their new home. I always have a little chat with my plants, just to see how they like things and to reassure them how much they are going to like it in my garden. It's soothing. Whether they reciprocate I cannot tell, but they grow happily for me so they must appreciate my efforts.  

Roll on spring.

Happy New Year

It occurs to me as we look back over the triumphs and disappointing debris of the old year, that it is just as well none of us really knows what lies ahead in this fresh, pristine new year - a snowfall yet unblemished by our trials and tribulations.

We have every reason to remain optimistic at the beginning of 2010. For some of us it will be a better year and others of us it may prove to be even more difficult. But as none of us know what 2010 will bring let's try to embrace the new year with optimism and cheerfulness and see if we can't keep that going as a mantra for the months to come. Yes we are going to have a few pitfalls, but some unexpected good fortune may equally be on the cards.   Nature, being what it is, is really rather more dependable than the economic climate or the weather, and as it is comforting to know that our gardens will rarely disappoint us.

So wishing all of us, gardeners and non-greenfingers folk alike,  a bright and hopeful year,  I hope too that we shall see a growing number of followers this year and look forward to some lively chats as the gardening year gets underway.

BORDER FLOWERS COMING IN MARCH 2010 in all high street and online bookstores

IN March 2010 we launch  Border Flowers, the fourth in the Greenfingers Series designed to help gardeners the world over get the best from their gardens. This one's a cracker (even though I say so myself)  and will elevate your garden beds and borders to something quite magical. Remember stunning plant combinations don't just happen - you need to experiment and put some creative thought into it. Winter is as good a time as any to make that plant wish-list and plan a planting scheme that will have your neighbours sighing with admiration.

All the birds have stripped the berries

It was a cheerful festive sight, heavy clusters of red berries dripping like beads of wax from the deep green of the cotoneaster. 

Not that I haven't noticed the covert birdy birdy num-num operation going on right under my nose.  Now all the berries are gone - not -one left - into the warm little feathered tummies of our local bird life. This cold snap has underpinned their more relaxed habitual foraging with a more urgent need. Frost is frost and birds get hungry. So throw out stale breadcrumbs or a bit of bird seed if you can to help them out this winter. Just place a handful on a branch if you don't have a bird table. ( Not on the floor or the foxes will have it.) Be nice to wildlife now and they will hang around and eat all those nasties for you next spring and summer.

Image courtesy of  http://www.freefoto.com

Crisp frosty morning today - lovely

Rainstorm by clapping -Winter solstice

http://www.mixx.com/videos/6502829/rain_sound_storm_by_clapping 

It's raining it's pouring ....

I can't say another thing about blooming rain- we are all browned off with it. 
Instead here is a great clip from Perpetual Jazzile all about wet and  stormy weather.

Around December 21/22nd we have the shortest day - from then on the days will start getting longer. Slowly but surely, we shall see the sun again. Put it in your diary, even dull, dreadful days like this can't last forever. Yippee.

http://www.freefoto.com/

Stil raining

My friend in Co.Fermanagh says they have had 37 days of rain continuously - and we think we're suffering.

Even we have almost given up on outdoor works, trying to find a break in the weather for the guys to point paving. I'm amazed we even got it laid. So is the client frankly. But a bit of paving makes everything look nearly finished and makes us all happy.

What a good lansdcaping team are we.

I really can't bear a rented garden too much longer and am champing at the bit to get my own plot again. New Year fingers X.