2010

Happy New Year, and good gardening!

Happy Christmas Everyone

That's it, the longest night is passed, Christmas Day is almost here and we shall soon be able to enjoy more time outside again, and see the new signs of life as Spring arrives.

To all who visit this little garden blog, thank you for your visits and comments.

Happy Christmas and a Peaceful New Year!

From Mr & Mrs Soggy.

Easy dig turnip

The turnip sits almost entirely on the top of the soil, so was much easier to dig up than then parsnips (see below).

Essential to the Christmas Dinner

Two varieties of sprouts, just before I picked them ready to accompany the Christmas Dinner tomorrow.

Digging Parsnips

The ground has been frozen for a while, today is the first day it has been above freezing, though when I levered the fork, I found about 2 inches of topsoil still frozen solid (see a lump of it to the left of the half-dug parsnip).

Christmas Tree Festival

Here at Netherhay Church, with the Horticulural Society tree right in the centre, are some of the entries in the Christmas Tree Festival, just before the doors were opened to visitors.
The ground is frozen here, so it was good to have this project to occupy us indoors.

Copenhagen climate change conference

How often in discussions and informal chats with gardeners, and other people who notice the ebb and flow of nature, have I heard comments over recent years to the effect that things are changing, signs of spring are appearing earlier. I would be surprised if there was anything but a significant majority of gardeners agreeing with the science that global warming is real and happening now.

In a recent letter my brother-in-law in Canada, not only a keen gardener, but also a meteorologist expressed concern that, if anything, the message getting through to most of us isn't stark and horrendous enough in its warnings.

But what do I know? Much more worthwhile and digestible reading (if you missed it when it was first published) is available, including de-bunking of the straw-men arguments put up to confuse the debate: Editorial published by 56 newspapers around the world in 20 languages including Chinese, Arabic and Russian.

Who Were We?

I could try and pretend this somehow has something to do with gardening, but I'll be honest and say it's just me showing you the website I made linked to a book written by a friend - well what are friends for?

Connecting the lives of a 19th century Dorset community

The temperature in the greenhouse was down to -1.5C last night, there: cold but not forgotten.

The last fruit of summer

In the sink, with mixed green salad leaves - just cut from the garden, the last tomato of this year's crop, brought in green from the greenhouse a few days ago and left to sit (next to bananas in the kitchen) and ripen.

Winter mix

Asked to get some stuff in from the garden, I came back in with onions from store, green and red sprouts off the plants, uprooted parsnips and fresh cut parsley, rocket and mizuna.

The first day of December brings the first frost.
Lots of brassicas, still to be eaten, drooping a bit in the cold and under the nets furthest away, broad beans and garlic (the latter will benefit from some frost to encourage deeper rooting).

The now bare apple tree, with bird feeders, against the clear sky of the first frosty morning this winter.