The January Itch!

Clear skies mean frosty weather but also beautiful sunsets!

I ALWAYS find myself itching to get into the garden in January. The hub bub of Christmas has past and there is nothing to take my attention away from the simple rhythm’s that form my life.

With the mild weather we’ve been having, it would be easy to be lulled into a false sense of security. I popped off to the garden center last week and stocked up on some of my favourite seeds and a propagator in preparation for spring. It was tempting to get going, but I am pleased to say that sanity prevailed and instead I got down to some sensible January gardening tasks such as doing a bit of garden cleaning and neatening up. It’s just as well as the past four mornings we have woken up to a garden covered in frost and because we are in a bit of a dip, the frost stays all day – there is not thawing out at all happening here!

I was rewarded by uncovering some little treasures that are peeking out and holding in their buds the promise of winter colour and joy.

Crocus peeking through fallen leaves. Lets hope the squirrels don’t find them!

Snowdrops are coming up all over the garden.

So, after an afternoon spent in my garden, I’m feeling a little less restless. Tomorrow I think I will start preparing my outdoor pots – that is weeding, digging over and filling the half full pots up with some soil from my compost heap. Next week I think I might do a little gardening in the form of embroidery or recording some of January’s treasures in my nature journal ;o)