Some snowdrops just breaking out of their buds. Others are about TWO inches high but can see the buds beginning to form.

If the bulbs dried out then they will not flower.

Ive been away for a while and so haven't been contributing,  Last summer we replaced a lot of our flower beds with vegetables, and i have continued that during this winter. We were endlessly watering as it was such a dry hot summer.

 I will remember this  autumn and winter as cold wet and miserable  but not exceptionally so , the lack of sunshine has been the most depressing aspect but the days are getting longer

So getting out in the garden and digging and preparing for this year , has been a 'breath of spring , especially as we have so many spring flowers pushing through and the snowdrops and early daffodils out, and also so many birds out there.  With gardening you always are looking forward and  I have just been looking at the latest  copy of https://www.gardenersworld.com/, and its now time to plant your summer bulbs!  I look forward to checking everyone's planting tips!

Originally Posted by: ARTzeman

More herbs will be grown this year. Need plenty of sage and basil also chives as they are well-liked. More mint as well. 

Some Old English Customs:

• Eating sage every day in May will grant immortality
• A woman who ate sage cooked in wine would never be able to conceive
• Where sage grows well in the garden, the wife wears the trousers

There you have it Art.

A few years back I found particularly fragrant strain of spearmint in Waitrose I think might have been one of the sought after Moroccan strains that one of their growers cultivated. It still thrives. I love Black Peppermint too as a tisane.

Optimistic Art. My cannas and dahlias have been in the shed all winter more to stop them becoming waterlogged.  The neighbours leave their dahlias in the ground and have got a way with it since 2014 even with the so called beast a few years ago. It's a risk I won't take though.

Having been outside earlier, chopping away some brambles, I noticed an unusual splash of colour at the edge of the lawn, an area underneath the spreading branches of my neighbour's Scots pine and hazel trees...

Sweet violet, I think, having looked online - usually found in road verges and woodlands. (Goodness knows where they've come from, but it was nice to see them regardless!)

EDIT: I went out and snfifed them. They have quite a pong which, disappointingly, doesn't smell much like those parma violet sweets (which are a favourite of mine - I love the smell of them). I guess, no surprise really, that Swizzels use fake violet flavouring in them!

SHOW EXTERNAL IMAGES

Edited by user 28 February 2021 09:30:51(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

My peach tree has buds and flowers and is looking good. I hope to have more than one fruit this year. No doubt the cold weather will see it off.

My crocuses are now full in bloom. I have photographed them with my android phone.

Hello, please can you help me as I have forgotten how to download photos on this site.

Originally Posted by: Roger Parsons

There are quite a few TWO posters who will be interested in the following nhbs piece:
Author Interview with Dave Goulson: Gardening for Bumblebees
https://www.nhbs.com/blog/dave-goulson-gardening-for-bumblebees

Enjoy.
Roger

That's an interesting site generally Roger

Back to gardening or more truthfully the prospects for the sloe harvest later. The other day I noticed that there are many blackthorn still in bud even this far south in Dorset. Remarkable for April.

Certainly a Blackthorn Winter as I type this. I hope this snap doesn't turn into a spell.

The worst of both worlds when you have to water pots at this time of year because of the dry and the plants are wilting and it's well below freezing at night. 

Nick

Winds were lighter so must have been enough for them to keep warm enough to fly.