Is it Spring?

January is supposed to be the coldest month but it has been for the most part mild, the garden certainly seems to think it is spring,

our first daffodil is out, but no sign of the snowdrops in bloom, they should have been out before the daffodils,

 roses have continued to flower all winter

and we have rhubarb almost ready for picking.

There is quite a lot of colour in the garden however there is no sign of the Camellias blooming, they have buds, but at the same stage as they were last October,

  I hope we don't get a sudden cold snap and everything gets set back which is what happened last year.

We were determined that we would not plant seeds too early this year, however broad beans take a while to get going and will stand well in their modules if the weather takes a turn for the worse, we looked at our seed supply to find we only had a dozen broad bean seeds left so a visit to the garden centre was called for, this was a mistake, one packet of seeds would have been fine, but we ended up spending the best part of fifty euros, a visit to a garden centre is always a mistake, and I didn't even look at plants. I normally order our seeds on line but we didn't need that many replacement seeds this year. We have however got the seed potatoes, four different varieties, plus five packets of vegetable seeds and two free packets of Snowball cauliflower. The broad beans are now being pre-germinated, no point in wasting potting compost. Leaks, Cauliflower and Brussels sprouts will be started next month, not too far away now. It seems a long time since we were planting anything, I think we are suffering from itchy planting fingers. The garden is more or less ready for planting, empty beds were fed with compost and then covered, hopefully the worms will have done the rest. Just a light hoe and the ground should be ready to go.

The heritage carrots that we grew last year have been a big disappointment, they grew well but they lack flavour, they might look pretty on the plate but we like things with good flavour, we wont be growing them again. Garlic and onions are looking good, again we are hopeful of a good crop this year. The grass has continued to grow throughout the winter, and most of the local farmers have kept their cattle out, it really has been so unusually mild.
The incubator has been taken out of mothballs and set with quail eggs, they are due to hatch on Wednesday, the first hatch of the season.