First flowers

Well technically they're not blooming yet, but the Daffodils are starting to make an appearance and will probably be flowering before the week is out.

During this past week we had some severe temperatures. -5c was recorded at some places. Well quite a few British plants are used to that sort of thing, but there are other which cannot take it. The Artichoke seems to have exploded in the cold.

I suspect that the sap in the leaves ruptured the cell walls causing them to fail. I'm not particularly worried by this though, as the central core of the plant appears to be fine. It will grow again. There is no stopping this beastie.

However the cold does mean that the plot is still not ripe for any significant work at present. All I did this weekend was dig out some weeds and hoe out some grasses from the paths. Nothing major, but certainly worth doing before the weeds and grass get a good foothold.

First visit of the New Year

It's not raining today. Makes a change. So It's time to go to the plot to see how flooded we are and to see how everything is getting on.

So, we're only a little bit flooded. Nothing like the major floods of previous years. But then Winter hasn't finished with us yet.

The onions planted back in November are starting to get off to a good start.

And the strawberries that are over wintering in the greenhouse are also holding their own.

Still haven't separated the runner from the mother plants at present. S where we did have about 5 mature plants, we now have about 20 overall. Bodes well for a decent harvest.

The Strawberries that are outside are looking a little worse for wear. They're still alive, just a little frost bitten (yes we did have a frost) and almost drowned. But they should recover. Hopefully this year I'll be building a proper strawberry bed for them, where they can permanently reside...

... but only if it warms up and stops raining.

Meanwhile we have a new resident who thinks we really should start getting some food for him.

I think he was watching to see if we'd turn over some ground and expose a few worms or bugs. Sorry little feller, perhaps next time.