Even had the weather been reasonable, it is doubtful that we would have been gardening. Martyn still has to be careful with his skin graft and although my shoulder has improved, it still keeps reminding me that it is not yet ready for anything too strenuous. On top of this, Martyn has tweaked something which has caused him some pain in his hip and leg. In short, we are falling apart.

The bulbs in the tubs, on the patio, are not letting the weather deter them and are resolutely pushing through the compost. It looks as though we will soon have flowers on the hyacinths.

In the open garden crocuses are in bud, although haven’t yet been tempted to spread their petals.
Clumps of snowdrops are more resilient. They prefer the cool conditions, the clumps that I planted a couple of years ago, have settled in well and now look no different to the more established clumps.

The hellebores were a bit late to come into flower this year but, have now got their act together.

Diminutive cyclamen flowers are popping up all over the garden. Most are self seeded and growing in the most unlikely of places. There are lots of self seeded aquilegias too which have decided that it is time to start preparing for their spring display.

Shrubs are at different stages of their life cycle. Whilst the mahonia is in flower, the aucuba is still holding on to its winter berries.

As for the rosemary, it seems to carry on flowering all year round  regardless.

Some plants are being cosseted in the greenhouse.  We don’t have any heat in there but, plants are protected from the worst of the weather and the temperatures are usually a couple of degrees warmer. The osteospernums appreciate the protection.

The sweet peas, sown last year, are in a state of suspended animation but will no doubt take off when the temperature rises a little.

Finally, what was on last week’s menu?

We had a rosti topped turkey dish that used some of our potatoes, onion and carrots. I should have also used some of our frozen French beans but I forgot them.

Can you tell that the oven shelf was on a slant? Luckily I got away with it.

We had a pasta bake which used our squash, parsnips, onion and parsley. It was based on this recipe but I used a herb mix instead of the nutmeg and allspice. I also used cheddar instead of Parmesan.

We also had a chicken, leek and mushroom risotto which used our leeks, garlic and frozen peas. I used the ingredients in this recipe but cooked it all in my wok.

That’s all for today, as always keep safe and well.