December 2010 - A Freezing Start to Winter

PLANTS IN FLOWER: purple Primula, Wintersweet, Beauty Berry, Cowslip & many colourful hips on the Roses.

This winter has started with a spell of freezing cold weather. All over the country, especially in Scotland and in Wales, the temperatures have dropped to record lows - at one point it was minus 22 c in Powys! It has caused chaos on the roads as usual and the extent of the snowfall and build up of ice has made Green Valley totally off limits for weeks on end. The amount of berries on the trees had indicated that a cold winter was coming but not the coldest December since 1910!

Arriving at Green Valley during a brief thaw about a week before Christmas, I was glad to find that the workings of the farmhouse were still fine - the pipes had not burst during the thaw & Cous cous had actually grown a little fat...

But many of the plants in the garden were looking frost bitten: my newly planted rosemary bushes; the dark grape vine that had been looking so vigorous only a few weeks earlier; and my lovely chocolate vine were all looking bleached. The pond was frozen hard and in the ice I could see one of the goldfish frozen stiff beneath the surface. There were also very few birds on the bird table and I hoped that they had migrated down beside the steam in the valley where the water was still trickling over the icy rocks.

There was nothing to do in the garden but watch for the cold weather to subside. I checked that there was still a good pile of top soil waiting for me at the yard in Builth for my vegetable garden - which was confirmed - so now I just need to wait until the early Spring to get the potager finished and planted with seeds...