Where I’m gardening I seemed to miss the wintery weather that other parts of the country were experiencing.
That said it was still cold ,with overnight lows of -8 centigrade so the early sowings of lettuce I’ve made were being well wrapped up and protected in the glasshouse.
On my social media feed I enjoyed looking at the snowy scenes being put up by the likes of Ellon Castle Gardens, a wee bit further up the coast from Aberdeen.
Old stone walls, espaliered fruit trees naked of foliage, evergreen yew trees and the skills of blacksmiths years ago, demonstrated in the ornate iron gates.
It looked just beautiful, with a dusting white underneath clear and crisp blue skies.
Early spring colour
Of course, you could be forgiven for thinking these images aren’t all that different from what we would have been looking at earlier in winter. But now we are in to March, the snow helps set off the colours of our early spring flowers.
In my own garden at home, underneath an apple tree grows a clump of the winter aconite, Eranthis hyemalis.
The tree sits in the middle of my front lawn, just set back from the main path. Unless I’m looking in its direction I can often miss this low-grower, getting lost as it’s surrounded by white, purple and yellow flowering crocus coming through the lawn.
However, on the one morning I did wake up to a covering of the white stuff, the crocus petals were temporarily flattened and as I made my way to check the glasshouses for the morning inspection.
Withstanding the snow
The dinner-plate-sized clump of yellow flowers proudly stood out, immediately catching my eye as they demonstrated their strength standing up against the weight of the snow.
I’ve always had a soft spot for the winter aconite, it being the perfect companion plant to snowdrops and crocus in the garden at this time of year.
I do find it most impressive when you see mass drifts of this plant, I’ve only seen it once in the grounds of Falkland Palace, but boy it was a stunning sight to see.
When you’ve planned for a day being out in the garden and the weather puts paid to it then we gardeners automatically use our heads and find a similar jobs undercover so not to put the day to waste.
That could be tidying the glasshouse to make room for the abundance of plants that will soon be filling it, washing pots, getting the rubber out on the labels so they can be reused, or everyone’s favourite job at this time of year, sowing seeds.
As someone who should be setting a good example to you all that would be the answer I should be giving you.
But I have to confess, on that snowy Sunday, I ended up putting the kettle on and having a lazy day on the sofa in front of the telly.
Inspiration from the shows
Before you think I’ve lost the plot don’t worry, it wasn’t all that bad. I don’t know why, but at this time of year I really enjoy watching gardening programmes more than I do during the summer – except Beechgrove Garden of course, wouldn’t miss that! – and so that’s what I did.
I love being out in the garden at this time of year, but there is something about being tucked up in indoors in front of the telly on a miserable winter’s day, being reminded of all the beautiful colours that will return to the garden again one day soon.
I enjoy watching Carole Klein, she’s a brilliant gardener who ran a very successful nursery, exhibiting at all the big shows down south. I like seeing what she does in her own patch, there’s nothing glamorous and everything seems so achievable.
Pots of tulips so not to take up valuable space in the garden that can be moved around to brighten up all corners.
Transforming a clump of evergreen box and trimming it to form a fashionable piece of cloud pruning and taking seeds from her favourite primulas and scattering them over a tray to create yet more plants.
After two hours of gardening programmes, a bacon and egg roll, a cheeky chocolate muffin and a mug of tea to wash it all down, I was full of enthusiasm and bursting with excitement to get back out in the garden once again.
It was driech by the time I got myself together but I knew I better get moving for an hour or so and avoid contributing to the middle aged spread.
After weeks of dry weather this was what I was waiting for. I took advantage of the wet to take a soft, long handled brush over the polytunnel to give it a clean, gently rubbing off all the grime and algae that had formed over the year.
It really felt like someone had turned the lights on in there once I’d finished.
The good thing is once I’d finished, I convinced myself that I’d earned another sit down and a cup of tea again. It’s a gardeners life!
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