Tags
chaffinches, Coffee morning, daffodils, euonymus, gardening, goldfinches, grass-cutting, green woodpecker, hedge-cutting, honey bees, honeysuckle, ladybird, primulas, Robin, rosemary, weather
These daffodils are only about 8″ tall – I like their delicate yellow colour. The clay soil in the flowerbed had already formed a hard crust when I took this photo.
We had hardly any rain last week and as a strong breeze was blowing most of the time, the ground at last started to dry out and we weren’t sinking into the lawn at every step. We had a few frosts that disappeared very quickly and the temperature rose progressively through the week until at the weekend we had temperatures in the mid teens (Centigrade).
A honey bee on honeysuckle. We have some new neighbours living near us who have bee hives. On Thursday I saw that their bees had ventured out and were enjoying our honeysuckle flowers.
Both Richard and I worked quite hard in the garden this weekend, trying to catch up with the tidying chores that should have been done in the autumn and make a start on the jobs that need to be done in the spring.
Rosemary in flower against the front wall of our house.
Rosemary flowers. Whilst weeding on Sunday I found a number of rosemary seedlings.
The job that Richard was most pleased about was getting the grass cut at last. He has cut it long to start with and next weekend (weather permitting) he will cut it shorter. He had also not been able to finish cutting the Leylandii hedge last autumn and on Sunday he worked on that too. There is only the top to cut now and if the ground continues to dry out he will be able to get on the stepladder without it sinking in a couple of feet and finish that next weekend as well. Hopefully, before the birds start to nest in the hedge! Richard wondered if gardening counts as exercise. The nurse always looks at me in a sceptical way when I suggest that gardening should be classed as exercise. I expect she imagines I wander about doing a little pruning and weeding – no raised heart-rate there, she thinks. However, as most gardeners know, gardening can be very strenuous at times and I do my fair share of digging, raking and other heavy work. Richard worked out that he had walked almost a mile and a half yesterday taking six barrow-loads of hedge clippings to the bonfire heap. We have a large garden.
Richard mowing the grass. The building on the far side of the hedge is the old school house. It is now a private dwelling.
This is where we have planted our fruit trees at the front of the house. The school house beyond the hedge, the corner pond to the right and you can see our grey septic tank cover to the left. You can see from the tracks in the grass, Richard must have been practising his slalom driving.
Elinor didn’t have a good day on Friday and wasn’t able to get out of the car when I took her to college. I brought her home again and she slept for a few hours and felt a little better when she woke. She has had three out of four results for her mock GCSE exams so far. Psychology A, English A and Maths E. An E is only just a pass but we are pleased that she did as well as she did with only having attended half a dozen classes at college. She is determined to do better and really wants to get at least a C grade.
Richard and I went to the church coffee morning on Saturday which was held at the Rector’s house. The Rector is still recovering from heart surgery and was pale and thin but gamely hosted the gathering. We won a picture frame in the raffle and I bought a delicious sticky tea bread and some more of the Rector’s home-made marmalade. We indulged in the usual chat and gossip. There are a few events coming up soon. Cordelia is holding her annual Daffodil Day (on Palm Sunday this year), when we admire her beautiful garden and buy food and goods from stalls in aid of church funds. Our other friends, Pam and Ian are holding an Open Garden on Easter Monday also in aid of church funds and their garden is always a joy to visit too.
Ladybird on Euonymus
I had a migraine on Saturday so wasn’t able to take advantage of the fine weather. Sunday started very fair but by the time we left church it was starting to cloud over and we had a little drizzle then rain showers during the afternoon. The weather didn’t stop us working outside as it was so mild.
The churchyard at Flixton where we attended the service on Sunday.
Green Woodpecker
Green Woodpecker
Green Woodpecker. I am glad we have these visiting our garden because they enjoy ants eggs and our garden seems to be one enormous anthill!
I think the woodpecker is a female as the males have a crimson centre to their moustachial stripe.
Chaffinches and Goldfinches feeding under the crabapple tree.
Chaffinches
Robin
Just a few of the birds in our garden.
Thank-you for visiting!
Hard clay soil – that is our soil type here as well. Beautiful spring photos! Rosemary is problematic where I am, even though the winters are generally mild. A week or so in the 20s can do it in. We had some really cold weather at the end of November/early December.
Elinor may find she enjoys Math more as a subject by reading some history/biographies of various mathematicians. I found a website called famous-mathematicians.org It looks intersting, and I have bookmarked it for myself to explore.
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A good idea! I’ll have to see what I can find for her. Our Rosemary is planted up close to the house in soil I dug loads of gravel into to improve drainage. It has survived well for a few years though we haven’t had temperatures below 10 or 11 Celsius (23 – 25 F I think) and the last couple of winters have been very mild. The lowest this winter has been about 5 degrees C. Thanks Lavinia.
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Lovely to see the Green woodpecker Clare and the rest of your birds enjoying the early Spring. We have started to see native 7 spot Ladybirds too, no sign yet of Harlequins.
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Until this last winter we have always had hibernating ladybirds in the house. There was no sign of them this winter (which made for easier housework) so I was pleased to see this one outside.
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Gardening is definitely exercise! And hard work, too. Glad you were able to get so much done.
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Hi Gallivanta! Google says 200-600 cal/hour, which I would agree with. Obviously the physician doesn’t garden!
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Thank-you Aggie!
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I thought the same myself. Gardening like housework is calorie intensive. 🙂
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I always believed so and am pleased to have had so much support!
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Thank-you. I feel we have made quite a bit of progress and I have done another hour of weeding today. The weather is getting colder and more unsettled again so we’ll have to see how much we’ll be able to do during the next week.
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Any one who thinks that gardening isn’t exercise has never tried it. 😉
It’s great to see signs of spring there, with the flowers, green grass, and insects! I hope that your fruit trees do well, there’s nothing better than freshly picked fruit. We had a small orchard of dwarf fruit trees and the kids loved going out to pick their own food.
The green woodpecker photos were great, they sound like our flickers, in that they prefer ants as food.
I can’t wait to see photos from your garden later this year as more things begin to bloom.
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Thank-you Jerry. Green Woodpeckers spend a lot of their time on the ground and hardly ever drum in the spring, so not typical woodpeckers. Our fruit trees have been in a few years now and are just starting to settle down. The two damp cool summers we have recently had has helped a lot. Children do love to pick their own fruit and vegetables and it is often a good way to get them to eat new things. Elinor helped me plant up a large tub with 3 cherry tomato plants when she was about 5 years old and I let her pick them whenever she wanted to.
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I was thin as a rail when I was gardening professionally but started gaining weight as soon as I stopped and sat down at a desk, so I know that gardening is exercise.
It’s nice to see the daffodils and honeysuckle blooming, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen rosemary bloom so well. It must like the night time heat it gets from that brick wall.
It’s nice to see someone mowing a lawn too. If only I could smell it!
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Oh! the scent of fresh mown grass was heavenly! Rosemary does very well in our garden. My herbs are all up close to the house facing south-east so they get sunshine for most of the day in the summer. The brick retains a lot of heat even at this time of year. I have two large bushes (the other is in a bed on the south side of the house but is quite exposed to wind) and they both survived our very long cold winter 2012-13. Thank-you, Allen.
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We are thinking of getting the mower out too but it has turned cold again so it might have to wait.
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Yes, it’s much colder here too.
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This is such a shot in the arm, Clare. Rosemary flowers, daffodils, birds, Richard cutting the grass and thoughts of a garden visit. Feels like spring to me! And such good news about Elinor’s results. Two A’s and one subject to improve on: sounds like a pretty terrific result to me! I know it’s still a struggle for her, but I hope she feels rewarded and encouraged by those results.
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Thank-you so much! Elinor is very much more confident about her abilities and has become a lot more relaxed about going in to class. She still has problems with her social anxiety caused by all the bullying she had when younger but I think she will be able to control that in time too. I am so grateful for the help she has had from therapists and especially the staff at college. She is a strong and determined young woman and is only just beginning to find this out for herself.
Spring is definitely here but is much colder than it was a couple of days ago. The wind is now to come from the east for the next few days but hey! it is still only March.
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this is such great news about Elinor. Makes me happy to hear, Clare. so happy for her and the family, as I know you all love and care for her and this must be so encouraging.
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It is – it really is. She is off on a trip to London tomorrow, visiting art galleries and museums with her art class. A long day away from home without family for the first time ever. She gets tired quickly and gets back pain because of her scoliosis but she will be with a lovely lady who understands her and who has arthritis and uses walking sticks herself so I think Elinor will be fine.
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It sounds like it will be a great day. She has come along so well and I hope she is better than I am at stopping and resting!.
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She is good at resting – she is a teenager. 😉
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The first few signs of spring color are so welcome, so missed. I love your wonderful images. It is such a gift to be able to walk through someone’s garden this time of year.
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Thank-you Charlie! Spring has sprung here but the temperature has dropped back to just below normal for the time of year. We only had a couple of warm days and we don’t like going back to wearing thick coats so soon!
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So sorry you had a migraine, Clare, and wasn’t able to enjoy the fine weather. Your daffodils are lovely and cheerful. I can’t look at a daffodil without smiling. It’s hard to believe you already had to mow grass. That’s still in the future for us. And what grass you have, it’s so lush and green. 🙂
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Thank-you Elizabeth. Migraines are a pain and usually happen when I’m worried about something and not sleeping well.
The grass is really lush at the moment. We have had two mild winters and a damp summer in between so the grass has done very well. We live in the driest part of Britain and in the past have often had drought when the grass doesn’t look at all good!
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That’s the moment I am waiting for! The birds are already here, but the soil is still covered by snow. Oh, well.
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Thank-you Cecilia. I am sure it won’t be long before the snow melts and the temperature rises. If the birds are with you then Spring must be very near!
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A beautiful garden – how wonderful to enjoy it as it comes to life.
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Thank-you for your kind comment. It is 10 degrees C colder this weekend than last!
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I love what you’ve done with mixing the circle images in with the other images.
Gardening can be a lot of hard work. If it get’s your heart rate up then I think it counts as exercise.
You have my sympathy on the migraine front, they suck.
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Do you get migraines too? Poor you! I like using the circles now and then.
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Yeah, occasionally a migraine turns up and makes me useless for a while. They are a pain when they happen, I just take the drugs and let my body sort itself out. The contrast square and circle looks good.
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