Pink Hellebores With a bee
Weekly Garden Diary

Garden Diary – The Big Catch-up

Gosh, I think we’re in need of a bit of a catch-up!

As there wasn’t much going on in the garden at the beginning of the year, combined with, rather a lot going on inside the house – yes renovations continue… I decided to have a short break from the socials.

I ended up having six weeks off daily posting and was a bit sporadic to begin with. But as the garden started bursting into life I got back into my stride. Unfortunately I just haven’t had time to put it all together for you, until now.

The big catch up

As ever, the first gardening job of the year was chilli seed sowing, as they take so long to mature and set fruit. This always makes me feel that the gardening year has begun!

The ‘gardeners mate’ and I also got outside in January, to finish trimming the holly hedge that we’d started in early December. One Saturday morning it was actually dry and sunny, so we dashed outside, as the bulbs were already starting to pop up throughout the border.

We got it finished and also managed to trim the three red prunus trees in front of it. All very satisfying and the gardeners mate got to use his new battery operated Bosch hedge trimmer, which he loves. Boys and their toys!

Back inside, the sowing quickly turned to tomato seeds and the lounge window sill soon filled up. I finally started moving some of the bigger seedlings to the greenhouse at the beginning of March. Still covered over though!

In a cooler room, I have filled another window sill with chitting seed potatoes, and excitingly I have two new varieties to add to my now regular ‘purple rain’. I’m already looking forward to trying them, I’ll let you know what we think.

The garden at last started to awaken from its winter slumber, with at first just snowdrops and crocus poking through the ground. Swiftly followed by pretty hellebore flowers, and the sweet perfume of Viburnum tinus wafting through the white garden.

We now have bright yellow narcissi contrasting with the blue pulmonaria. Hyacinths adding their perfume to the air. Primulas giving a blast of colour and to my great pleasure pink, purple and blue Anemones flowering their heads off. 

I planted the funny little corns two years ago, they did flower a bit but not particularly energetically. This year though, they’ve obviously made themselves at home flowering profusely.

Of course, all this flower activity in the borders is quite exciting, but nothing in comparison to my frogs returning. One February day I pass the pond on my way to the compost heap and all is quiet, the next, splish, splash, splosh and they’re back!

I can’t imagine where they all go to and how they find their way back, but suddenly the pond is full. There are definitely some familiar faces and I’m pleased to say that ‘Ginge’, my favourite is one of them.

At the peak of the mating activities I did a rough count of 65, which is five more than last year, so a very positive sign.

But all good things come to an end, and before I knew it, the spawning was complete. Not without some hiccups which you can read below. 

A handful remain but tend to stay in the water and keep themselves to themselves, so my little daily chats with them would have to wait until next year.

The bees have returned and buzz around me as I chop away the dead foliage of last year’s perennials. As I do this, I find new creatures to talk to, they are round, red and have black spots. We always have loads of ladybirds in our garden but I’ve never seen so many this early.

The following day I went to the green recycling bin to find ladybirds all over it, I opened the lid and they were everywhere. As I tried to encourage them onto my hand for relocation around the garden, they were heading for the safety of my sleeves. What a happy activity!

In the kitchen garden, I finally got my autumn onions planted in the ground, and saw the purple spouting broccoli, well, sprouting! We enjoyed the first small, delicious harvest.

A had a little trip to the garden centre as they have a good selection of shoes, I told the gardeners mate where I was going and for what purpose and he laughed. He knew exactly what I’d come home with…

As well as the borders having new flowers blooming on a daily basis, the pond has its first colour blast thanks to the Marsh marigolds. I only planted one little patch but they’ve seeded around the pond with their bright yellow flowers reflecting in the water.

It always feels so good to be gardening again, and as the spring flowers replace the bareness of winter, you can’t help but feel optimistic!

Monday 23rd February 2026

#magentamonday

Whilst the flowers have been snoozing, I’ve had a little break from social media. But we’re both wide awake now 🙋‍♀️🌺🌿

Let the season begin! #hellebores #flowers 

Tuesday 24th February 2026

What a simply beautiful day! 🌞🌸🌿 

You can’t believe that last week we were freezing our bits off 🥶 Long may it continue! #hellebores #Springsaroundthecorner

Today marks 5 years on Twitter for the garden🎂 🌿 Where does the time go to!

It’s a very happy week for me as the frogs are back in town. They give me so much pleasure 🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸💦💦 #frogs #frog #pond #wildlife 

Saturday 28th February 2026

The frogs returning to my pond make me truly happy 🐸 I’ve counted roughly 65, 5 up on last year.

This one knows he’s my favourite & is such a poser! #frogs #frog #pond #wildlife 

These purple veined crocus called ‘Pickwick’ are so reliable, I planted them years ago & up they pop every year 🌿💜🤍💜🤍💜🌿 #crocus #springflowers #purpleflowers 

Another beautiful day, making us believe it’s nearly spring 😊 

I wish you could smell the sweet scent of the viburnum tinus 🌿🤍🌿 #shrubs #scentedplants #viburnum

Sunday 1st March 2026

Happy St. David’s Day from North Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🌼

There’s enough blue sky to make a sailor’s suit so it’s looking hopeful for another perfect gardening day 🌤️💙🌿

#StDavidsDay #1stMarch #SundayYellow #springflowers 

What happens when you leave plant trays lying around with rain water in? You need to get your marigolds on, to rescue the frogspawn laid in it! 🐸💕🐸

#SpawnRescue #frogspawn #frogs #pond #sevenonsunday 

Monday 2nd March 2026

The primulas offer such bright colour from February through to April 🌿💕🌸💕🌿 #Primula #springcolour #MagentaMonday

Autumn onions finally gone into the ground. I started them off in October in pots & just haven’t found the time to get them in. They’ll romp away now! 🧅🧅🧅 #growyourown #onions #kitchengarden #Homegrown 

Tuesday 3rd March 2026

The snowdrops (galanthus) at the base of our wonderfully tactile Walnut tree 🌳🤍🌿

#thicktrunktuesday #snowdrops #walnut #trees #Galanthus

The purple sprouting broccoli was loving the sunshine 🥦☀️💜🌿 #TuesdayBlue #Homegrown #growyourown #veg

First little harvest of purple sprouting broccoli 🥦😊😋

#Homegrown #growyourown #broccoli #purplesprouting

Wednesday 4th March 2026

A bit of ladybird rescue & disbursement was required after I’d put some garden chopping into the green bin 🐞🐞🐞🐞

#wildlifewednesday #wildlife #ladybird #ladybug #insects 

What’s chitting on your windowsill?

We don’t eat many potatoes, so I only grow 1 type, but Patch had an offer where you could buy a small amount of 3 varieties. Perfect! So we have Celebration, Arran Victory & Purple Rain, which have purple flesh 💜🥔 

#potatoes #homegrown #gyo

Friday 6th March 2026

This week’s beautiful spring-like weather has got the garden blooming & brought out the insects 🐝🌸🐞🌼🌿

#FlowersOnFriday #blooms #insects #hellebores

Saturday 7th March 2026

What a super week, giving us a taste of spring 💙🌸💜🌼🌿

I’m surprised how many Anemones I have flowering.

#sixonsaturday #anemone #hellebore #daffodils 

No sooner do the frogs arrive than they’re off again. To where, I do not know! But their job is complete for this year, leaving lots of spawn to start the cycle once more. Just a few left, on guard 🐸🐸🐸 #sixonsaturday #pond #frogs #spawn #wildlife 

Sunday 8th March 2026

What’s more #SundayYellow than a daff 💛🌼🌞🌼💛

Blooming at a time of year when we are desperate for some brightness 🔆 #Narcissi #daffodils

Monday 9th March 2026

This osteospermum sheltering in my greenhouse over winter is well ahead of the game 🩷🩷🩷🩷🌿 Just shows what a mild winter we’ve had! #magentamonday #pinkflowers #mildwinter 

Tuesday 10th March 2026

Scilla siberica, also known as Siberian Squill, will seed themselves all around your garden. These have made their way under my lavender path. I constantly move the little bulbs to enjoy them elsewhere 🌿💙🌿💙🌿💙

#tuesdayblue #blueflowers #scilla 

I learned from someone on X (twitter) that these flowers are actually Chionodoxa (Glory of the snow).

Thursday 12th March 2026

Popped to the garden centre for some new shoes earlier in the week. The gardeners mate new what I’d come home with 🪴🪴🪴🪴 & no new shoes 🤗

#PlantsOrShoes #plantaholic #newplants 

Isn’t this the sweetest little primula? And the satisfaction of having grown it from seed 🙂🤍🌿 #primula #whiteflowers 

Friday 13th March 2026

Blue skies are back this morning after yesterday’s storms 💙🌞 Good job the spring flowers are pretty hardy!

Happy #FlowersOnFriday

Saturday 14th March 2026

Six flowering in the garden this week. It’s really colouring up now! 🌿💕💜🌼🌿 #sixonsaturday

Sunday 15th March 2026

Caltha palustris, known as marsh-marigold and kingcup, brightening up the pond 🌼💛🌼 #SundayYellow #yellowflowers

Enjoy the weather & happy gardening.

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