Greenhouses are not just for plants.

What a strange day weather wise.
It kind of just couldn't make up its mind. It started off quite dull and then blue skies appeared and the Sun put in a an appearance for about an hour...then quite a fog came over, then sun and this evening back to fog but still no snow...darn it!

Well as you can see by the photo of my greenhouse, in the winter it becomes a des res for the boys! Ginger and Tom that is. I treated them to a nice little draught proof house each and on these cold days they hardly leave them...well would you, I mean there's a nice little heater that comes on to protect the plants I overwinter and I often pop out with a nice snack, ha!

There are some good bargains to be found for gardeners right now as the garden centres begin to clear out stock to make way for the Spring . I picked up all the seeds shown at very new garden centre in Southport for half price, a huge saving ! If you want stuff like this don't leave it too long! I had better get the sweet peas in this week in the Greenhouse


In my little wildlife diary I found a few entries for past Januarys;

Jan1st 1993 noticed a flock of about 12 Redwings on the holly tree at the bottom of garden, flew away mid day top of road./ I think we were in a real cold spell then too!

Jan 5th 1997 Field fare still in garden feeding on apples .. chasing away other birds...Pied wagtail, Dunno ck[2] Robin , Blue tits, Sparrows , Blackbirds etc all busy.

January 2006 dark dull and rainy but mild 11degrees saw flock of long tailed tits[12] on lilac bush feeding on nuts and fat. Robin. blackbirds and usual birds around.


I'll do a few more tomorrow but have to say haven't seen any Red wings since or indeed any Fieldfares... shame.

The picture of me with all the ice round the pond was taken about about 2001 I think, now that was chilly.. brrr!

Tomorrow I will tell you about when we kept 3 lovely Chickens in the garden , they were real characters! Oh and I bet not many people have a Holly bush the size of ours, as you will see from the picture I'll take tomorrow.

January in the Garden

Dismal,Dismal Day! Horrible ,no snow here unlike Manchester and down South just a dull ,heavy greyness. Well I know that snow can cause lots of hassle but you know ,its Winter and even if it only lasted one day I would just like to wake up one morning and see a Winter wonderland!

So anyway I took the camera and ventured out down the garden in my wellies and as you can see from the photos its not looking too pretty right now but hey .. there was one little Primula that the sparrows hadn't managed to rip to pieces and at the back of the border there were the tiny shoots of the Snowdrops. A few of the pots where I have planted daffodils were also showing an inch of shoot so , its beginning!

At least the birds seemed happier and more lively today, many out at the birdbath and on the lawn now that the frost has melted.

I really will have to stop buying Gardening books as when I gathered them all up today to photograph I realised just how many I have....... and this is not all of them I must confess!

Found a little garden diary that I have had since the 1990s and in which over those years I have noted down various things that have happened in the garden or birds that have appeared especially those that are very occasional visitors, so tomorrow I might jot down a few on here.

January in the Garden Day 1

Well looking at the garden today, frozen bleak and bare its takes some imagination to think that in the space of a few weeks it will be bursting with spring colour.

However the journey that it takes to reach that point is half the fun of gardening. The first Snowdrop in January or a Daffodil in flower just after Christmas, as indeed last year there was. I fear that we will not see such a sight this year as it is so cold and nature always adjusts itself somehow! We must wait and look and instead feed the birds who are all looking for any food they can find. All those apples that fell to the ground last autumn that I left now serve just this purpose. Tomorrow I will walk round the garden and see if I can find a small sign of things to come!