Welcome to my diary. I write a short account of the happenings in my garden every month. It is quite amazing how year on year the seasons change, which makes our weather so interesting - you can never predict what is going to be growing at any particular time.

MARCH

At the beginning of the month the snows came once more, the frogs retreated to the bottom of the pond again and all was quiet in the garden.  My Chusan palm looked spectacular though (see below) and when the snow had gone I could see that it hasn’t been damaged.  Then the rains came and the pond started to overflow, it still is as I write and the frogs still haven’t got their acts together although I can see at least 3 pairs swimming about.  The poor weather doesn’t seem to have stopped the magpies building their nest in our pine tree.  They have been so busy and the domed nest is a masterpiece.  I am a bit upset with them though as I watched them pulling at a clematis stem unsuccessfully then move on to another thinner one and break it off from the base.  I bought 3 more this week, let’s see what they do to them.

On the coldest day of the year we went to the Thriplow daffodil festival, we felt very sorry for all the stall holders outside under their canopies, the village hall was the favourite place for most visitors!  But well done to the villagers who put so much effort into the weekend.

With all the miserable weather we have been enduring it was a welcome sign of spring when the clocks went forward so that now I can prepare the evening meal in daylight and watch the birds in the back garden at the same time, we have a new nest box and the blue tits seem interested.

Whilst the boundaries of our gardens are relatively exposed I think it is an opportunity to consider what they look like to our neighbours.  Our fence that we replaced 2 years ago is already invaded by ivy from next door, pushing through the panels and over the top. When I walk Bailey round the roads I notice fence panels that have been painted on one side and have dribbled through to the neighbour’s side looking unsightly, I see ivy that has grown out over half the pavement, trees that are well away from the owners house but which are so close to the neighbour’s property that they must live in constant shadow and rubbish dumps/compost heaps are always positioned at the bottom of the garden which may be really close to the neighbour’s back door – not nice in the summer.

Do you like my new house plant? See below.  I got it from Tesco, it is called Castanospermum australsi or Jack’s bean tree or black bean, just look at the seeds!

The garden is finally coming to life, see below, we just need better weather to enjoy it, maybe next week?  

                                Happy gardening    Julia

Julia’s Diary

My back garden

Jack’s bean tree

Chusan Palm