Thursday 3 January 2013

Garden 2013 no 1




Garden 3013 no 1

It feels so good to write that…. GARDEN 2013 NO 1 

This will be brief, obviously there is not a lot to do or to see in a garden in January but the there are two things I find worth celebrating. The first is that I was well enough to brave the January cold for about an hour and go outside to the garden. The second is that once out there, I saw tiny signs of new growth. My fruit bushes are in bud. It’s early, and spring is still a long way off but it’s reassuring to see the bushes in bud ready for the spring. I did very little, I picked up some rubbish that had blown into the garden, clipped a few blackberry runners off before they embedded themselves into the ground, raked over the soil to level it off after the recent rain and wind, threw some spring bulbs into the ground and then threw handfuls of soil on top. (I’m not sure they will actually do any thing but I had forgotten about them and they spent the winter in a bucket in the shed). I’ve nothing to lose, the bulbs weren’t going to do any thing in the shed and even if they do nothing this year, they will be nicely buried into the ground by next year.

On the plus side, I’ve caught a lot of the water that’s been falling from the sky. My water butt is full to overflowing and the various buckets and bins around the garden are also rapidly filling. I’m thinking of using the wormery I bought a couple of years ago as a second water butt. I didn’t have much luck using it as a wormery because all the worms died.  I think it’s too cold here to keep worms outside and the bin has been cleaned and stored in the shed, it's ideal because it has a tap on the bottom.  I think I’m going to adapt it and use it as a second water butt, seems a shame to throw all this water away when it could be used to water the garden s next summer.
But for now, it was so nice to spend an hour outside.

9 comments:

  1. Goodness, I am really surprised that you have things budding. I am in the Lincolnshire Fens and there are no signs of life here. This is a lovely idea to document your garden through the year.

    I got a wormery when we moved here but my worms all died too. i was going to get some more in the spring and try again.

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    1. Thanks, I tried the wormery twice but the worms always died. The people I've read about who keep worms seem to live overseas, I don't think the climate here is good enough. it's either too wet or too cold or both, anyway, the tub is ideal to use as an extra water butt.
      I've been doing garden blogs for a few years now and I really enjoy it, my garden is very small but I like to keep a record. :-)

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  2. Happy New Year, Loretta!

    While it's been a very wet and windy winter, it hasn't been very cold, quite mild in fact, so that probably accounts for the early budding.

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  3. I'm glad you're feeling better and were able to do something in the garden.

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  4. I'm also glad to hear you are getting better Loretta and you have ventured into the garden now that Spring is on its way back. Only yesterday I noticed that my blackcurrant is budding nicely already too. They love wet north facing gardens of course like most currants do proving my Granny was quite right when she said 'it's an ill wind that blows no good'. Looking forward to seeing your garden blossom in the coming months Loretta....Happy New Year to you!

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    1. Hi Aaron thanks, I think I tried to do too much too soon and now I've ended up back indoors with the bugs again.:-(( I think the currants will do well this year, all my currant bushes have lots of buds already, I think the wet mild weather has helped.

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  5. Loretta!! It's so good to find another fellow 360 and Multiply friend! And I am delighted seeing your garden again. I've always loved that blue fence. So much so - I went out and bought blue paint for some of the things in my own garden. But with so much to do at my new place,haven't used it yet. lol
    I'm very new here, and still am trying to figure out the place. And here you are with several blags here?!! ((hugs)) Diana

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    1. Hi Diana, nice to see you again, where do you blog these days?? I tried to find you here but so far failed. Send me a link for your page here and if you need any help setting thing out just let me know. I'm no expert but I'll help if I can.

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  6. We had a nice day here in Buffalo, I was able to get into the yard and do a little clean up.

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