19th November 2004
Winter Strikes
Snow has fallen very early this year. It fell as sleet (snow mixed with rain) for a long time before turning even colder to settle on the ground. This spells doom to all the frost-hating plants in the garden. Some will survive, others will have died. Although it will be sad to see some of the plants go, the snow does look fantastic.
The Has-Beans?
After a bumper crop this year, the Runner Beans have now been halted in their tracks by the cold and snow. They are looking very wilted and tired. This is not suprising, as they have been working very hard all year to grow so many beans. Would this be the best time of year to harvest any remaining beans - ready frozen for the freezer?
Is it a jellyfish?
Mr S.'s favourites, the nasturtiums, have taken a hammering from the cold and snow. Their lily-pad looking leaves now look like an ocean scene, full of forms like jellyfish. The leaves are frozen solid, and will crinkle and snap off if touched. Has this stopped their advance throughout the whole garden? Mr S. looks hopeful...
Flower in the Snow
As though frozen in time, an open nasturtium flower, ready for pollinating by a visiting bee, is now frozen solid by the snow.
Poached by the Cold?
The new generation of Poached-Egg flowers have also been frozen in time by the now. Their delicate flowers are still standing up to the weight of the snow, but once it all thaws, will they still be standing?
The Empty Stump
It must have been cold last night as even the Mini-Garden Hippo has left his home and gone off in search of somewhere slightly warmer. He went off without a word to anyone. We are hoping that he will be back in the springtime.
Settling in Nicely
The new pond has already has its first taste of snow and had a thick layer of ice over the top of it. At the moment there will not be any wildlife sheltering beneath the ice, but next year we hope that any wildlife will be sheltering beneath mud and pondweed we will put into the pond.
A way to Father Christmas...?
A snowy path winding its way through a forest, logs covered in snow outside a wooden cabin, the sunlight lighting up the way for any visitor - what could lay around and beyond the corner of this path? I'm sure that if Father Christmas needed a base in England to do his massive job of delivering presents to everybody in this country and personally see thousands of children each day, he'd think that this would be a good place to do it.
