Who flipped the weather switch?

We awoke this morning to a cold and greyness which was a contrast to the last fews days where we’ve had a bit of sunshine. Yesterday it started nice then over the day we had a shower or two of hailstones then the sun went in and out a few times. We can’t complain as New Hampshire in the US is experiencing some deep snow at the moment.

We had plans today for some more gardening as well. Roll on the real spring not this pale imitation we’re having at the moment. We’ve stuck a picture of a poppy from a few years ago above to remind us that sometimes we do get good weather.

And by the way congratulations in advance to Charlie Harper of the punk band UK Subs who is 80 in May this year. As they say old punks never die they just stand at the back. They are planning to make his birthday on 25th May a national holiday for old punks and pints of Lager and Blackcurrant will be sold at 1977 prices in selected pubs*. London Transport are also getting in on the act and going to release a special Charlie Harper bus pass holder to put your 60+ Travelcard in. We at Weeds welcome all these moves and boo to the poser punks who will be putting these special travelcard holders up on ebay at inflated prices.
*Subject to availability and while stocks last. Punk Terms and Conditions apply.

No complaints about the cold today

Cheers to Rich R in the Lake District for sending us a photo of what the view was the like from his front doorstep on Saturday. Now that looks cold! And to accompany the picture, Rich said “The mountains are still covered this morning but not ground level. A lot of people were posting pics of the northern lights last night.” That is crazy stuff. Keep warm Rich and keep on sending us the pictures.

On a cold and frosty morning

Another big thanks goes out to Rich R in the Lake District for sending us a pic of what the view was like from his front window earlier today. This picture was taken just after the morning snow stopped and he also told us minus 5 is on the cards for tonight. Brrrr, that’s all you need. Keep warm Rich!

By all accounts Forest Hill is supposedly having a couple of cold nights this week so BBC Weather reckons. Anyway here’s an apt named tune from Hoodish Recordings in Tokyo from an artist called MaL (PART2STYLE) and it’s called Powder Snow Dub and a nice tune it is!

Quaking in our gardening boots about the weather

We watched the weather forecast on telly last night and the tall chap in the suit was a little unsure about what’s going to happen next week, “It will get colder and there may be snow or maybe not, even we don’t know”. We deduced from this it’ll be a good idea not to be too keen this weekend especially sowing something outside, so we’re holding our horses as they say.

Because of the cold weather today we decided to give it a miss even though we had some jobs to do out in the garden. We did have post this morning that cheered us up though, a small bag of Rocket early seed potatoes (If you want to know the different types of potatoes from earlies to lates explained simply, have a look here), some shallot sets that we’ll put in mid-March after this cold spell hopefully and some packs of seeds: spring onions (the variety Guardsman that have dark blue/green leaves), purple sprouting broccoli and some miner’s lettuce which we’ve never come across  before. More on the miners lettuce here.

Also a good mate of ours sent us a packet of Quaking/Quivering Grass seeds (top right hand corner of the above pic). They weren’t sure if that was the actually name of the plant or just the name the person who gave them the seeds called them. We checked on google, it did exist but it was only one of its names, it’s also called: didder, doddering dillies, jiggle-joggles and quakers-and-shakers. More on Quaking Grass or Briza media here. Do keep warm this weekend!

All about the weather

And we’ve been complaining about the weather today. A big thanks to our good music/radio friend across the pond Justin Patrick Moore for getting in touch. Here’s what his back garden in Cincinnati looks like at the moment. Now that is cold. Thank goodness there’s no elephant garlic been planted in his garden lately as they wouldn’t stand a chance. Cheers for the pic Justin.

It’s cold outside

Who’d have thought we’d have snow in London yesterday. It came down in the late afternoon and it is most forgiving when it comes to a garden that needs a bit of work doing on it. Even the shortwave radio longwire antenna is feeling the cold.

It’s been a while since we’ve been out there and there are lots of jobs to do but the jobs can wait as there isn’t a fat lot of things we can do at the present moment. With the solstice around the corner it won’t be too long before it’s spring (or are we just fooling ourselves?)

Here’s to the sunshine..

Coming in from the cold

Hardly the articI woke up this morning to a light dusting of snow over the garden. I’ve a day off today and was hoping to tidy up a couple of beds out there if I got an hour or two, but they can now wait as you can’t see the weeds for the snow!

I found out a new gardening term the other day as I wanted to buy some bluebell bulbs to stick in the bottom of the garden under the tree by the pond as it can get quite shady and I never have much luck there anyway.

As I’ve long missed the autumn delivery/planting, the only way to purchase them now is when the bulbs have started growing in the spring. They’re lifted at the nursery and then transplanted to us the punters “live”, hence the term “In the green.” Roll on the spring!

Two to feel warmer to (after the stereo and the heating’s been turned up!)