Author Topic: Signs of Spring (Read 223973 times)

We won't see wild garlic for weeks yet. All I've got are some snowdrops which are creeping under the fence from next door and the Spanish bluebells are popping up. And a little bit of mint has just begun to return after I hacked it all back due to powdery mildew last year.

Cleaned out the pond as the flag irises were starting to shoot through the grill that keeps the herons off the fish. The water mint was shooting everywhere and I had to do my usual job of confining it to the small part of the pond where it belongs. The car always smells nice after that, when I take the green waste to the tip.

T42 · « **Reply #1608 on:** 15 March, 2023, 10:20:07 am »

Cherry blossom out on the trees in the next village. Just flowering cherry, though, not proper ones.

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #1609 on:** 15 March, 2023, 10:39:44 am »

Quote from: T42 on 12 March, 2023, 01:36:45 pm

Quote from: Jurek on 12 March, 2023, 12:20:06 pm
Magnolia has started to pop out around here.

Omar time:

And lo! A thousand petals with the day
Woke, and a thousand scattered into clay

12th-century, aubergine eating, Persian polymath wokerati!

T42 · « **Reply #1610 on:** 15 March, 2023, 02:06:59 pm »

Quote from: Cudzoziemiec on 15 March, 2023, 10:39:44 am

Quote from: T42 on 12 March, 2023, 01:36:45 pm
Quote from: Jurek on 12 March, 2023, 12:20:06 pm
Magnolia has started to pop out around here.

Omar time:

And lo! A thousand petals with the day
Woke, and a thousand scattered into clay
12th-century, aubergine eating, Persian polymath wokerati!

And piss-artist. Mustn't forget that.

T42 · « **Reply #1611 on:** 17 March, 2023, 10:52:33 am »

People out walking in winter coats, woolly hats & scarves in 15°C.

Pingu · « **Reply #1612 on:** 17 March, 2023, 10:56:39 am »

Blackbirds singing Barbie Girl yesterday evening.

PaulR · « **Reply #1613 on:** 17 March, 2023, 02:02:42 pm »

Quote from: Pingu on 17 March, 2023, 10:56:39 am

Blackbirds singing Barbie Girl yesterday evening.

Ah, I thought that it was just South East London blackbirds that sang that tune!

T42 · « **Reply #1614 on:** 17 March, 2023, 02:20:29 pm »

Butterflies!

T42 · « **Reply #1615 on:** 17 March, 2023, 02:21:37 pm »

Quote from: PaulR on 17 March, 2023, 02:02:42 pm

Quote from: Pingu on 17 March, 2023, 10:56:39 am
Blackbirds singing Barbie Girl yesterday evening.
Ah, I thought that it was just South East London blackbirds that sang that tune!

In this neck of paradise it's Barbie Wire.

Pingu · « **Reply #1616 on:** 17 March, 2023, 05:35:03 pm »

Lambs!

rafletcher · « **Reply #1617 on:** 18 March, 2023, 11:30:44 am »

Me, working in the garden yesterday afternoon, without a jumper for the first time since about October.

Mrs Pingu · « **Reply #1618 on:** 18 March, 2023, 01:26:08 pm »

I have also just been out there in a t-shirt, but I was scraping paint off a handrail and getting quite sweaty.

RobertW · « **Reply #1619 on:** 18 March, 2023, 02:25:54 pm »

Female Brimstone feeding on Pulmonaria in the sunshine in my garden at lunchtime.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #1620 on:** 18 March, 2023, 09:38:17 pm »

Walkerd round the park today but didn't hear any blackbirds. This is worrying. Normally there are quite a few. Is there a national decline?

JellyLegs · « **Reply #1621 on:** 18 March, 2023, 10:50:58 pm »

What for 15 years I swore was an almond tree (until my daughter shinned up it and produced a small, very sour, plum like fruit to shut me up) in the back garden is now in full, deep pink, blossom. Daffodils are out, at least the earlier clumps.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #1622 on:** 18 March, 2023, 10:55:49 pm »

https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/how-to-grow-an-almond-tree/

I'm not 100% sure that an almond fruit wouldn't taste like a sour plum. They are both prunus. If you take a plum stone ad crack it open, the kernel is edible and not entirely unlike an almond. It's usually just smaller.

hellymedic · « **Reply #1623 on:** 18 March, 2023, 11:49:27 pm »

I think almond fruit flesh is only a very scanty, thin layer outside the large stone nut.

Plum, peach and apricot kernels are indeed almond-like and I think apricot kernels can be used as cheap bitter almond flavouring.

I've hear rumours about cyanide content though...

Andy W · « **Reply #1624 on:** 19 March, 2023, 06:19:00 am »

Our pond teeming with newts. 4 of 6 birdboxes i i made last year appear to be occupied by both Great tits and Blue tits. Crocuses and Daffodils in peak display along the garden borders. Dawn chorus starting around 5.45, and BTW, plenty of blackbirds.
From a cycling perspective, the rural lanes in North Herts are nicely potholed after winter rain and ice, and im feeling smug that my Genesis is shod with 40mm tyres.