Gardening

[Hugo]

Hope you're safe and sound over there with all the snow Bellringer.   We had further snow last night and the garden is under a thick blanket of snow but no sign of Badger or Fox tracks there last night, perhaps they went elsewhere.

[Bellringer]

Hugo, yes we are fine thanks and we hope you are too. Our friendly local farmer/contractor has been down the road with his big red tractor and snow-plough so we could get the car out if required.

Showed your pics. to my wife and she wants a dog like yours. That's a lovely photo above - I couldn't get our border collie Ted to stand still long enough for a pic., he was so excited and charging around like a mad thing.

[Bellringer]

Managed to get "Ted" to stay still long enough for this

[Bellringer]

Our monkey puzzle tree this morning with the weight of snow really making those lower branches hang down.

[Hugo]

Ted looks like he's enjoying himself in the snow, does he come in with snowballs attached to his feet and legs like Marco does?  I liked your Monkey Puzzle tree and think the Squirrels deserve to be rewarded if they dare to climb up it!
I'm going to start to dig the snow from the drive as we're hoping to go to Maenan Abbey for a meal tomorrow afternoon but knowing my luck it'll snow straight after I've finished clearing the drive!
There's a solar light on the table somewhere under the snow just like the one you've got.
 :Sisyphus:

[Hugo]

There were Cyclamen under there before the snow came but we'll have to wait and see if they survive.

[Hugo]

Pictures taken this morning after a heavy snowfall last night.   I don't think that we'll be using the picnic table or the sunloungers in the near future.

[Bellringer]

The monkey puzzle tree today. No, Ted is not lying down, and he really did enjoy charging around frantically in the snow.

[DaveR]

That's fantastic, Stan. 

[Ian]

...in the true sense of the word.

[Bellringer]

Looks today that our garden pond was not deep enough for some of the fish to survive the very cold temperatures of the last couple of weeks.
The strange thing is that the larger fish seem to have succumbed while some of the smaller ones can still be seen moving about below the ice.

[Hugo]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your fish bellringer, the ice has been thicker than normal recently.  A neighbour of mine keeps a large ball in his pond to prevent the ice from freezing completely on the surface of his pond.
I don't know if the reason for this is to get oxygen into the pond or not.

[Trojan]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your fish bellringer, the ice has been thicker than normal recently.  A neighbour of mine keeps a large ball in his pond to prevent the ice from freezing completely on the surface of his pond.
I don't know if the reason for this is to get oxygen into the pond or not.

So that's what the large ball at Portmeirion was for -  to stop the fountains & ponds from freezing over?

It must have blown out of the water, as it was roving all over the place.

Every time I turned around it was there. Strange. 

[craigollerton]

Besides gardening, I wonder if anyone is having a go at 'growing your own' this year. I've a few dozen raspberry canes in, hundred strawberry plants or so, about 50 leeks, 25 shallots, 100 onions, five or 6 rhubarb. Plenty more to go in yet, just waiting on the warmer weather. I will probably start chitting my spuds next week in preparation for March. Feel free to ask any Q's on growing your own and i'll do my best to help folks.

[Trojan]

I will probably start chitting my spuds next week in preparation for March.