Hardy Watercress

I was out in the garden, doing some tidying up after this week’s sharp frosts. the temperature dropped to -3 degrees during the week, leaving beautiful patterns on the broccoli and sparkles on the wild rose hips

Unfortunately it also killed off the last of the nasturtiums so today’s task was to clear them up. While I was outside I spotted broad beans coming cheerfully up despite the cold:

tiny saladings under a cloche:

and sweet peas thriving in the seed palace:

Signs of spring indeed.

The cold earlier in the week had also brought ice to the pond:

and killed off some of the waterlilly leaves. I spent some time hauling these up and clearing space around the pond so that the tiny spring bulbs lurking under the soil will have room to grow. While doing this I noticed that the watercress had survived the cold so pulled some of that up as well, along with some mint:

and made watercress, potato and mint soup, using potatoes from the allotment. I didn’t have long out in the garden but these were satisfying signs of spring and hope at this gloomy time of year.