Winter Turns into Spring

Winter turns into Spring. It is sometimes hard to believe how quickly things can change. The photographs, both taken this year, show the transformation between March and April. The wonder of the British climate is how variable and inevitable it will always be. There is a great joy in witnessing this timeless progression. The anticipation has turned to a reality. The garden is now alive with fresh colour and the grass needs to be cut.

There is a scientific reason we enjoy this anticipation. Most people tend to imagine positive events in their future. When an individual anticipates something good happening, the neurotransmitter dopamine is released, resulting in positive feelings and decreased painful ones, along with increased arousal and excitement that can also feel good. 

Perhaps this is why gardeners are generally a more happy bunch, we are always planning and anticipating the next round of the eternal climate roundabout?

But do cats feel the same? They certainly enjoy the extra outdoors time. Just ask Hecate and Mili.

Top tip: Always think ahead and be proactive not reactive. Enjoy the anticipation but tackle those weeds now because the soil is beginning to warm up. Weeding now will save so much effort later.

 

 

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day fell earlier this week, so I thought it would be interesting to see what is currently in flower in the Pennine garden. It was not hard to find quite an array of blooms in a multitude of colours. Quite a selection to lift anyone's 💖💕

J Parker's, the garden supplies specialist, reminds us that the occasion is synonymous with the start of Spring and the gardener's year. 

St. Valentine’s Day, popularly known as Valentine’s Day, is celebrated as the lovers day every year all over the world on February 14. The celebration of this day is thought to have originated from a Roman festival called ‘Lupercalia’, which celebrated the start of their springtime. Later on, the festival changed into a Christian celebration where they decided to use it to remember St Valentine too, and gradually, St Valentine’s name started to be used by people to express their feelings to those they loved.

Now its time to peruse that catalogue.......

Top tip : start your planning early, there is little that is more frustrating than having missed the boat to sow those early seeds or even to get your mail order garden essentials in good time

Time for Action

The blog has been dormant for a while but this has only been a reflection of a lack of opportunity to get outside into the garden. I would like to blame the BBC for setting the trend of hibernation, taking Gardener's World and Beechgrove off our screens for the duration of the dark months but the reality is a combination of bleak weather and being largely confined to the indoors has limited my activity.

This is not to say that I have been idle but rather taking it a little easier. Key jobs have of course been done. The shed has been tidied, tools sharpened, the conservatory deep cleaned and the first seeds have been sown. 

However, inspired by some beautiful late afternoons and seeing the buds beginning to emerge will undoubtedly re-energise the horticulturalist in me. It certainly seems that Hecate and Mili have missed the big outdoors. So roll on spring.