Coincidentally

Any hope that the snow might have thwarted slug and snail populations this year was premature as there now appear to be an unusually high number of very small slugs around. On the plus side, there are also a lot of tadpoles. Coincidence?

Green time

Greens - whites and purples - in abundance now, thanks to regular net inspection: The snow weighed down some of the protective nets, allowing pigeons to peck at the exposed growth.

Anemone apennina

               Anemones enjoying their brief moments in the sun.

Some like it hot

Battling to keep chillies and tomatoes happy when it's been so cold.

Cloche nosh

Protected from the cold, slugs and birds with bottle cloches throughout the winter, half a dozen lettuce plants have survived and are putting on growth as it slowly warms and brightens up.

Waiting in the wings

Future frog

         More than the usual amount of frogspawn around this year.

Coccinella 7-punctata

Foxy Action

A series of stills of a scavenging fox, captured by motion sensor at the allotment as the snow begins to thaw.

Stabbed

  Then the snow and ice turned up, stabbing gardeners everywhere.

Pilewort

Celendine, aka Pilewort, the roots of which were once used in the treatment of haemarrhoids.

Peppery pong

        Lovely peppery sweet smell from the blooming wallflowers.

Daffs Up

          The first daffs are up and it's starting to feel like spring.

Souped up

Unearthed a few potatoes and a beetroot from last season to accompany some leeks and celery in a soup.

Parklife

                             The crocuses are out in the park.

Mulched

              Rhubarb's now in leaf, happy with a mulch of manure.

Ready, steady, sow

Now sowing indoors; peas, broad beans, tomatoes, chillis, phlox, calendula, sweet peas, rudbeckia.

Persea americana

        Three-year old avocado plant surviving the winter indoors.

Not burning down the house

More appropriate on the plains of South America than in a small urban garden, but now almost impossible to remove as the sharp blades can cut you to shreds and any attempt to set fire to it, as is traditional, would probably burn the house down. Still, at this time of year it's almost worth having.

Chopped

                      Annual pollarding of the chestnut tree.

Winter greens

Running repairs

                     The shed roof needs a bit of attention.

Winter pinks

This low growing perpetual carnation lives up to its name and is quite happy in a hanging basket.

Apium graveolens

    Celery still producing enough stems and leaves to flavour a stew.

Freezer raider

     Time to dig in the freezer through some of last year's harvest.

Signs of Spring

                                           Hazel catkins

Daphe odora buds about to open and release their sweet citrus pong.

The Future Now

From the forthcoming album, 'Maverick Action'.

Done and dusted

                 Another year closing with a light dusting of snow

Tweet

Allotment birdsong, May - October.

Forward planning

                   Boxing Day Seed Sale: 20 packets @ 30p each

Season's Eatings

Horseradish root: grate and blend with white wine vinegar and cream

       Sage: add onion, breadcrumbs and an egg for baked fritters.

Rogue Brussels

Timely harvest, but not quite as firm and uniform as shop bought brussels. Not sure where they came from - never sowed any.

Scrub that

Hard to compete with the uniformly straight and washed supermarket ones - time to get busy with a brush and some wire wool.

Borago Officinalis

Borage, aka Starflower, flowering in the last few weeks of the year.

Jasminum nudiflorum

    Winter jasmine providing a bit of colour at the end of the year.

Rage against the dying of the light

One final bunch of nasturtiums and even a late sunflower, before the temperature dips too low. The cabbages, chard and lettuce cope a bit better with the cold, as does celery, parsley and spinach, so there's still some food to harvest. Carrots and parsnips become sweeter after a frost, so there's an underground carbohydrate store too.

Unripened on the vine

 

The last of the outdoor tomatoes ripened indoors. 

Shroom Season

Mushrooms have been so ubiquitous this year (probably due to a warm, wet August) that there's even a plotline about magic mushrooms in The Archers at the moment. These unidentified ones appeared overnight, next to an old tree stump and quickly disintegrated, only to be replaced by another crop a few days later.