Ennui at Easter

I didn't blog over the Easter weekend as nothing happened. I don't work Fridays and I went into the office today to help redress the holiday deficit, so really it was just a normal weekend for me. No bunnies, no chicks, no egg hunt. There are some pretty lambs down in the village that I meant to photograph but every time I stepped outside the snow came down. Very little gardening done and while I did go out with my camera to record progress, there was none. I noticed today in Edinburgh that lots of blossom has come out since I was there last, but here at sleepy hollow time is standing still.

I have been reading, knitting more little socks and carrying out my domestic duties. And I had a big bake in on Friday, quiche, bread and rock buns - even they look a bit dull.

Little and Large

This photo doesn't really show the scale, but the grey socks are for Mr FF's size 10 feet and the orange ones for a three year old. I knitted the large pair in the gray Araucania Ranco and topped and tailed them with the purple I used for the Hedera socks as (a) I was concerned I didn't have enough wool and (b) I thought it made them more interesting, I'm delighted with the result. I decided to knit the little ones as I have quite a stock of left over Opal from making girl size socks. I have knitted a few pairs of fingerless gloves but some of the colours are a bit limiting, children's socks are a fun and quick way to use up the wool. Two wearable items and all that knitting entertainment from one 100g ball is such good value, how easily pleased I am.

Garden Weekend

Its been full on gardening this weekend, Friday Saturday and Sunday I've managed at least a few hours outside and today the weather was so good it was almost warm. I could practically see the daffodils cracking open, they are showing yellow if not quite out, unlike the rest of the UK I know. I've finished cutting back all the old foliage in the herbaceous borders, front and back, revealing lots of new growth and plenty of weeds. I top dressed the hostas with compost from the heap. Its like mining for gold digging into the pile to find well rotted crumbly goodness that went in as lawn cuttings, weeds, leaves and a bag or two of shredded paper from my office. I do sometimes wonder if I might come across a mouse, or worse a rat, when I'm delving in there, not that we ever put food waste onto the heap, so far its been clear of vermin.

Joy of joys, the sweetpeas are up, at least 24 have germinated so I just need to keep those going until around the end of May, which is the earliest I can safely plant them out. The dahlias are all spouting, which surprised me as I just bought a few plastic packs, buy one get one free, in the garden centre. The tubers looked old and dry when I planted them and I didn't hold out much hope. Just goes to show what a bit of bottom heat can do. Today I've sown peppers and sunflowers. Such an exciting time, this weekend has really re-charged me after a miserable week at work struggling with spreadsheets, graphs and charts. More of the same tomorrow I expect but my goodness the garden looks good.

Farm Yarn

Look what the postie brought me. 5 balls of Farm Yarn natural organic British alpaca wool. I got it on ebay and its just yummy. I was a bit concerned to read on their website that often in South America the alpaca are slaughtered for their wool, thats a big price to pay for supersoft yarn but they stress that this certainly doesn't happen in the UK. Makes me happy on a day when I'm a bit feeling sad.
I went to the greenhouse this morning to find that one of the woodpeckers that visits our feeders every day was dead on the path. I heard a crashing sound when I was drinking tea in bed this morning, the poor creature must have flown into the glass. I feel responsible that I encourage birds into the garden and this is what happens. Mr FF says it may have been a new woodpecker that hadn't visited before and was confused, usually they flit around the garden so safely. I did hear drumming in the trees so there are other woodpeckers around but am still sorry to lose this one. Not a positive post this morning, lets hope the weekend improves.

Happy bunch

These are not just daffodils, these are Marks and Spencer's British grown, hand elastic-banded not wrapped in cellophane daffodils. Lightly dressed with garden-picked twigs of twisted willow, the plump golden buds slowly open flooding my kitchen with their generous springtime glow. 99p and worth every penny.

You're my favourites

I foresee a series of blogs where I regale you with details of my favourite garden plant and change my allegiance with the seasons. At present, much as I love the snowdrops and crocus that I was desperate to see flowering, my favourites now are the hellebores. These hardy perennials are putting on a stunning display despite the changeable weather, today we’ve had sunshine, hail and sleet. Most of my hellebores are grown towards the back of the garden in a woodland area where they are shaded in the summer. They seem very happy and though I can’t see them from the kitchen window I’m not keen to have them in the mixed herbaceous border.

There has been some self seeding going on and apparently some cross breeding as this year for the first time two of the youngsters have flowered each producing a few blooms in differing shades of their pink or purple parents. Self seeded plants generally take two or three years to reach flowering stage so I’m delighted with this small success.

I once visited a garden open under Scotland’s Garden Scheme that had a wonderful display of hellebores. Because the flowers tend to hang down you have to tilt them gently upwards to see the delicate colouring inside. To avoid hundreds of people manhandling the plants, the garden the owner had provided small mirrors on canes, angled so that the mirror could be positioned under the plant to inspect the flowers.
The Garden Scheme is a great way to find out what does well in your area and as there’s often a plant stall, a good way to buy locally grown plants. Sometimes there’s tea and home made cakes too with a percentage of the admission fee and sales profits goes to the charity of the owners choice. I’d like to think I might reach the stage of having my own garden open one day but certainly not until I’ve been retired a while and maybe not ever then unless I work really hard.

Seasonal pots

Did I mention that I like to have a selection of cheery seasonal pots at the front door? I should have kept quiet, tonight those on the balcony look like this. The ground was white over when I woke this morning and around 3 inches more snow fell during the day. Fortunately the roads have been kept clear and the forecast is for better weather tomorrow. Just when you think spring has arrived.