SUN AT LAST, THEN FOG

More muck and compost distribution, pruned the osiers that are tied together, raked weed from the pond (and cracked the handle of the rake), removed the planks edging one of the raspberry rows in preparation for digging up the plants, weeded the chives.
The grass in the lower garden is absolutely waterlogged and sodden - should keep well off it.
All the division and replanting of snowdrops is now showing how successful it is with swathes in the wood and some of the flower beds.

Many January blogs seem to have been a bit depressing - lines of poetry like - 
'Night comes down like a coffin lid,
Enshrouding me in darkness . . '
come to mind. I mean, come on lad get a bit cheerier - so 

Sunday - and dawn and sunshine, if very cold and frosty, I went into the garden and after I came in could not get warm again, even standing by the Aga.
By there afternoon the incoming tide in Morecambe Bay had brought fog almost to the bottom of the garden. R and I walked up the back field and saw a hare.

The old ash I can see from my study window is festooned in ivy and a habitat in itself. 

In amongst the ivy there grows a Rambling Rector rose reaching twenty feet or more up the branches. I wonder how many bird nests there are and will the tree survive the ash dieback plaguing the country.

The younger trees further up the garden are as tall if not taller and strong and straight limbed. This old tree is more gnarled with twisting branches and dead wood which can fall in high winds.






This is the view up the garden from my window -

I noticed that I had not pruned one of the hydrangeas yet and then, when I processed the image I saw that the liquidambar has still got all its leaves, the red ones poking out of the top of the hydrangea here. Usually there autumn leaf fall has come and gone - it must be a sign of how mild it has been.

And it has been mild, frost gone quickly.

And the pheasants peck about under the feeders hoping the tits will drop something.

High pressure over the country so dry, cold and a bit cloudy - Monday - put in the 5 loganberry plants bought yesterday in Greenodd at Potato Day after clearing away old raspberries and digging in lots of well rotted manure.
More tidying of perennials and so on.
Paused mid dig to listen to a pair of tawny owls hooting - in the daytime.
Veg beds nearly done, just the cutting bed to sort out - have several rosemary bushes and a privet to go - somewhere?

Changed my mind - have tidied and tied in the remaining raspberries that were for the chop. Will give them loads of compost and manure and liquid seaweed feed. They have one more year.

Thursday and instead of golf I load the raspberry bed with manure and compost. Then I tidy up the main redcurrants.
Weather has been very foggy for a couple of days but this evening a weak sun broke through.

I find it hard to believe D Trump is not a fictional character - impossible to create! Terry Jones gone at 77 to be with Brian, so we will not get a new comedy, Life of Donald - actually we have it all the time. 

Perhaps the Coronavirusis is Mother Nature's answer to the human plague? 

Any volunteers to nip to the White House and cough and sneeze?

Or even Downing Street?

No, I would not wish that on anyone. . . . . . . . would I.?