We’ve not had rain in a while, which is good for drying out the paths, but the pond was a little low, so I gave it a few watering cans. No signs of frogs or frogspawn, though Pat keeps checking through the fence.

I’ve now got tête á têtes open in Bed 3 with the crocuses now. Not long before this bed really takes off. I’ve got little strands appearing in the woodland bed and I’m wondering if they’re going to be the woodland anemones.

Today was fern bed day and I spread my collection of pine needles and leaves across the bed with the remnant of a bag of compost, and arranged beautiful logs. I thought I might get another fern for the very end of the bed, but decided that a big log pile was cheaper and more fun.

I moved a lot of foxgloves from Bed 3 and planted them at the back of the bed, along with a couple of larger ones from under the apple tree.

I’ve alternated the ferns: Dryopteris erythrosora (copper shield fern; colourful when young; 0.5-1m spread/height) / Polystichum setiferum (soft shield fern; 0.5-1m spread, 1-1.5m height) / Dryopteris erythrosora / Polystichum setiferum. There are spaces for the bluebells when they get moved and I’m still considering other colour as the heucherellas I’d like are not readily available.

In the afternoon I cleared out a load lemon balm and buttercups stuck within it, making a new space to consider. I’m wondering about moving the struggling perovskias from the left and putting something else in the hole they leave. The triangle needs a good weed and sort out, now it has the fern bed and woodland bed either side. The bear’s breeches are coming up, but they were covered in moss, so I’ve cleared that off.

The pond is waking up, but the water is still too cold to try and mend the front. I saw water louse and a snail. A paddlestone has dropped in and needs to be found, but meanwhile I’ve sprinkled more million bells seed on the ledges.

The first crocuses have opened in Bed 3, with lots more to come.

The garlic was all up, so I worked out where the evicted 4 could go back in. The lines aren’t as uniform as they should be, but with any luck everything will stay put now.

The ferns have been bought now and are sitting at home. I need to get some heucherellas, but the Alabama Sunrise weren’t at Wyevale any more, so I’m going to hold on a moment to see if I can find them. I’ve marked roughly where the ferns will go and put another log, and some pieces of bark into the bed. Two foxgloves have been added and I’ll get more out of Bed 3 next weekend.

I saw the robin standing on the tripod log twice, exactly as intended. Hopefully it’ll find all the grubs I was turning up in the weeding.

first crocuses

more million bells on pond. water too cold to try and bring up sand

keep clearing fern bed. go beyond end. lemon balm is next. move lupin to front bed after breaking off its only leaf. add logs and plant nursery foxglove.

add bag of leaves to wooden bin

The pond has a bit of hippo on the front side at the moment, but there’s nothing to do about it. When the water’s warmer I’ll try and move the sand lining a bit, but I’m not holding up much hope for a big change.

The garlic has pretty much all sprouted, but I’ll wait a little longer before putting the four displaced ones back.

I managed to see my latest snowdrop before the sparrows ate it. The crocuses are on their way, but not open yet. I cut back the coreopsis to reveal this year’s new growth and found a little sleeping(?) bee, which I left sheltered.

I broke off last year’s physostegia stalks for possible dead hedging. I got quite a bundle of stalks for my collection of stalks and branches, so if anything is still asleep in the stalks, it can keep sleeping for a while.

The everlasting peas are now out of the fern bed and I’ve cleared more of the bed. I’ve put down one of the tripod logs to see how it will look.

4 cloves of garlic had been pulled out of Bed 6 and the empty end of the bed had been pecked about when I got to the plot this morning. I couldn’t tell where the cloves had come from, so I’ve put them into a pot to root. Once the other cloves have sprouted, I’ll be able to see where they need to go and will put them back. I should have put the netting over the bed.

We took the cleaned feeder and some more logs down, including a new feature log. I moved all the logs off the fern bed onto Bed 11 and started to clear the fern bed, making good progress. The two robins were around, but didn’t dare come close. Somewhere nearby I could hear a woodpecker.

There are some big gladiolus bulbs in a hole near the fencepost, but I think they might be blind. I’ve left them for now as the foliage is fine. The lupin was pretty good last year, so that’s staying for now. I’ve left the two everlastings peas, but have since decided they should come out as they’re not very good plants and don’t suit the new bed. The height cover is going to be taken over by foxgloves. I’ve got lots of seedlings to be moved from Bed 3.

The garlic had started sprouting in the cupboard, so I needed to get it in. I’d over-estimated how many cloves I would have, so I’ve ended up with 3 short rows in Bed 6, leaving a space at the end. This might be for chard, spinach, lettuce … Some of the cloves had black marks, but most had sprouted and all were firm, so I’m hopeful they’ll be ok.  

I’ve moved the verbena that overwintered in Bed 6 to the back of the veronica where there was a bit of a gap. I managed to get some grass out too, which is a start on the weeding.

The snowdrops had been nibbled, but there are couple of new ones coming up. I’m hoping that the currently untouched foliage

There was occasional light rain and the fern bed is still just a little too wet to start clearing. It’s very different from the paths though, so with some dry weather I should be able to start soon.

We finished pruning the fruit trees today. The apple tree hasn’t been cut back as much as last year, but it’s been thinned well and I took a few small branches off with the saw. I’ll take off anything else I spot if necessary either in the next few weeks, or perhaps the odd bit in the summer.

I took a few bits off the pear tree, mostly just snipping out crowded branches, but also getting rid of the mad new growth on the left.

There was a buzzard on the top of the tree when I turned up and later I briefly saw a couple of long-tailed tits. The robin was in and out while I made a start on the pruning. I did a little of the apple tree, but will need help with that. I’ve taken a little off my hawthorns and the pear tree and they’ll be finished tomorrow.

The snowdrops are almost up. I think one has been eaten, but I have a few getting ready to flower. One of the lungwort is close to flowering too.

I’ve taken the tiny holly seedlings from under the apple tree and potted them up. I’m hopeful they’ll take; it would be super fun if they’re male and female.

The ground wasn’t frozen, but was fairly firm and dry when I took a couple of logs down to the plot, along with some big pieces of bark from Christine. Still several more in the garage to transport.

The pond level was a bit low, but I couldn’t see any puncture, so I’ve filled it up with water from the butts. It would be nice to think it’ll hold. The iris has started to send out new shoots and I’ve tidied up a bit of grass and nettle from the fence line. I need the sun to shine through the water before I attempt to get the paddle stone that’s slipped in there. That front ledge just slopes downwards to the water. I might see if I can get some little wedges under the stones to stop them sliding.

The logs under the bird feeder had been cast asunder, as if something big had been chasing something, or rooting around under the logs. I’ve placed some log circles under the feeder for me to stand on and then put the logs around them, leaving space for the bear’s breeches and bulbs that are coming up. I might need to replace them with some heavier pieces as I imagine the logs won’t stay in place long.

There are signs of a number of bulbs coming up in the woodland bed. I think the fatter ones with the collars could be my new snowdrops. One of the lungwort looks a bit trampled, but the other two have flower buds and look pretty good.

I thought the hellebore had been destroyed in the log mess, but I found a leaf attached to a little root ball, which I’ve planted into a pot (with some of my compost) with a foxglove that was already self-sown in there.

We’ve had some properly cold days recently, with frosty mornings. I took a log and my bag of pine needles down to the plot and it was nice and easy to walk down the frozen path. The gate was frozen shut, but only needed a shove. The shed door unlocked easily, but had sunk enough that the door mat wouldn’t let it open, so I had to peel it off the frozen ground to make room to get in, dump the pine needles and grab the bird food. I fed the birds and put a couple of my water coconuts into the sun to thaw.

The pond is frozen over and it looks like the water level is down a bit. I’m hoping there’s no damage causing this. The edges of the ice were thawing and it looks like there are little gaps where air and creatures can get in as needed. A paddlestone has slid in, so that’ll have to be found in the spring.

A displaced log turned out to be frozen to the ground, so I couldn’t tidy it up. The hellebore is coming back very slowly, so I might get to see it again. In Bed 3 a few bulbs are coming up. Outside the bed there’s a frozen molehill, but it’s the only one in the plot.

The fern bed was completely frozen, with frost-covered logs. It might be a while before I can start work there seeing as the sun doesn’t hit it at the moment.