Big garden no bird watch

Today was the RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch day. I've counting the birds in my garden at the end of January for over twenty years and have found that the birds vary enormously from one year to the next. One of the variables has been the change in garden. My old garden attracted the usual …

Solstice soup

Today's the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year but the one where we can start looking again for light and the promise of spring. It's rained for most of the day but I went into the garden in the rain and hauled out masses of overgrown stuff from round the pond. The frogs …

Advent Calendar Days 15-20

Today I've been at home in daylight and even done some gardening.  I forgot to take any photos in the garden  but here's a wee update on the wild and wonderful Advent Calendar this week. On Saturday the 15th, snow and hail and all sorts of wintriness was forecast. I spent the day delivering mince …

Advent calendar update

It's been a bit of a long week but keeping my eyes open for snatches of winter joy has helped me get through. So here's an update: Day 8 - I was walking along the street, not feeling very festive, when I heard workmen singing Christmas carols as they worked. This prompted me to photograph …

Wild and wonderful advent calendar

The first week of my wild and wonderful advent calendar has gone rather well. I set out to tweet something that struck me as wild or wonderful every day. This has forced me to go outside at least for a few minutes in the morning or in the middle of the day when there was …

End of November – bah humbug

The thirtieth of November has crept up on me. I'm not one for celebrating St Andrews Night, a relatively new invention, but all joy to those who wish to do so.  This is the night when I usually have a mad dash to make an advent calendar. This annual creative endeavour is an example of …

Sweet

When we first moved to this house, the front garden was bare: a paved over parking place for up to three cars.  Since then, I've dug most of it up and planted bulbs, roses, herbs and a couple of small trees.  But in those early days when all was bleak, we needed something to grow …

Onions in the snow

Everyone else in the garden blogging and tweeting world seems to have started sowing their seeds.  Well not here. It's far too soon, too cold, too dark but I thought I should at least have a look at my seed tin and start to think about this year's vegetables. In it I found the usual …

Summer garden/Winter garden

I took part enthusiastically in the twitter #summergarden thing over the weekend.  The idea was to post photos of your garden in the summer to cheer everyone up. I don't know if these were the exact photos I posted but you get the idea: It was lovely.  I saw some people complaining but I find it …

Season’s Greetings

Happy Christmas to all my readers.  It is seasonally warm, windy and wet today. These icy glories are from a couple of weeks ago when we had some proper winter frost. These beauties were on my garden shed. For those who have been following the advent calendar, here is the final, opened, store cupboard with …