Reasons to be cheerful

Another cold, wet and miserable day. Made the effort to walk to the allotments, but it was cold and raw, and not much fun. The water butts had 'lids' of thick ice which I poked with my trowel to test just how thick it was, but gave up as I was in danger of filling my wellies with the overflowing water. Checked all was OK in the shed, and it was. The winter cabbages seem to be doing OK. Didn't stay long. Had a short chat with Julie and her son, who'd been collecting some parsnips. She told me she'd been reading my blog, and I agreed with her that I needed more pictures.

As it's so dreary, I thought I'd add something bright and cheerful. So here are some of the flowers in our garden, taken last Spring. Over twenty years ago Mike brought home a dozen bulbs of the yellow tulips and we now have about 150 flowering in the front garden every year. I've dug them all out twice over the past years, dried them off, replenished the area with lots of compost, and replanted them.

The snowdrops at the bottom of the garden originally came from a garden in Coven, near Wolverhampton twenty-three years ago. Each year I split one or two of the larger clumps, split them, and replant 'in the green'. There are usually enough to share with friends too. We now have a lovely show each spring. The little basket of iris, primroses and ivy does it's own thing too, since I first planted it up about four years ago. When it's finished flowering, I take it down the garden and leave it under some bushes for the summer.