Selfsufficientish.com

Driving to nursery this morning I noticed that the gorse was starting to flower - early perhaps? I thought it would be a good idea to compare our areas so we could see the different stages across the UK and also to compare these to other parts of the world.

Tonnes of snowdrops. Loads of leaf buds on the trees. And we have some ducklings on the river!!!

Not a lot! The hazel is starting to 'glow' and the alder is starting to get that purply haze.

We need a few more mild days after the harsh weather of the last few months before anything can think about doing anything. We are way behind last year.

The birds have started though - dawn chorus started last week and heard first blackbird song yesterday.

Oh I forgot - twin lambs out in the paddock across the lane from me yesterday!!

Daffs starting to appear but no flowers yet, saw a bumble bee on my allotment but I think I disturbed its hibernation. Snop drops were first up a few weeks ago. All the allotments are bare on mine but I have seen winter veg about on others.

Very frustrating time, especially when you have stuff you want to plant out, 10c today but frosts on there way again! Does this mean we are in for a good summer?

my strawberry plants are growing in me garden at home and i have daffs coming,sort grass and patch with seed in march,on me allotment my rhubarb is budding but i aint bothered about forcing .spring cabbage is growing and radar onions and broad beans that rain has done em good i aint rushing to get parsnip in as my allotment buddies are putting theres in now but germination of parnip is dodgy so i wait till march.
i have 60 broad bean plants aint got a clue how many beans will get.
i love to know what other bits of vegetables we can eat like i was told you can use the leaves of raddishes etc ay andy i had an idea we have veg of the month what about the other bits of veg you can eat month.you might think im mad but it would be interesting like can you eat the greensoff a cauli etc.

I actually saw a bit of gorse flowering weeks ago... They seem to go on all year around here, in sheltered spots that is.

Snowdrops have been out for while, too. And for the past week I've been admiring the first of my little iris (in a pot); and there's some other winterflowering stuff out, that I can't remember the names of! Terrible head for names, I have - must be old age...

I went to a talk last year on winter flowering plants, and I was amazed to find how much does get out despite the cold. There's that bush with pink, fragrant flowers on it all winter in my garden, and lots of small plants.

Daffs are coming up, too - no flowers as yet. There should be a lot more things appearing by now (crocus etc), but a) I can't remember where I planted it all, and b) I found one bulb already that had been half-eaten, so I'm sure that wasn't the only one I've lost!

My gorse is nearly finished - it flowers in mid winter.

Noticed the Lords and Ladies (wild Arum) appearing everywhere yesterday - mild weather plus rain is making everything go crazy - I've some narcissus that has grown about 3" in as many days!