Icy imprints adorn the car windows

Well the working new year has kicked in with a very fresh start.

After the New Year, going back to work was a real shock to the system. I climbed into the car at 5-45am with the temperature showing -6 C on the thermometer and the windows thick with ice. Travelling out of Bristol the world felt frozen and somehow a bit distant.

The cats waved me off from the sanctity of their warm radiators, safe in the knowledge that they didn’t have to move until the world reached a reasonable temperature. Once the hunger pangs have been satisfied there is no limit to their ability to radiator sit. I imagine that evolution will create extra thick soles to their feet so that they can sit on any radiator at any time and never have to move. As it is, they occasionally feel the heat more than they anticipated and do a form of radiator dance that moves their feet about to cool them down whilst still keeping their arse close to the warmth.

Thankfully a few degrees of extra warmth in the outside world and a bit of light on the situation made the world come alive and everything quickly felt back to normal. However, the clear evenings have continued the cycle and each morning has been a carpet of white frost and the beautiful picture which that creates.

At least the spring greens are hardy

The garden is not sure what to think at the moment.

The cycle of thawing out and then re-freezing the vegetables each day and night seems to be taking its toll. I planted broad beans in Autumn that were supposed to toughen up in the winter ready for spring, but they have long since been frost bitten beyond recognition. I actually put in two lots and one is still going, but I am not sure for how much longer.

Similarly, the ”Ready for Xmas” potatoes were indeed ready for Xmas in as far as they weren’t going to grow any more, but they were the size of peas so we were glad our lives didn’t depend on them. We have the pleasure of their company tonight.

So far I would suggest that our first experiment with growing winter vegetables has been very qualified in its success, to the point that if you wanted to recognise what they are it has been a failure!

But we haven’t finished winter yet and maybe they will surprise me and turn it around. They have at least kept me interested in the plot during the cold weather.

Jams, Chutney and Jelly

At this time of the year the effort we expended in preserving our produce last season starts to pay off. The courgette chutney has been a hit, although providing a recipe to friends or family is tricky when I made the spicing bit up as I went along. Needless to say, curry spices and courgettes in chutney work well together.

Although the damson jam is slightly thin on the ground, it too seems to have gone down well.

Our freezing of last year’s bean mountain went less well with a pile of soggy, frost bitten looking runner beans materialising once they had thawed out. These were completely inedible and quickly landed on the compost heap.

Moss appears in all corners of the garden

As I showed a couple of weeks ago in the pictures, the moss in the garden has really taken over. I have never lived anywhere with the variety that we get here.

The roof starts to green up and sprout sponge moss, the walls and trees form a winter protective coat and the stone tops shine with lichen.

It is incredible that moss can grow so liberally at this time of year and then vanish later such that you would never know it had been here. Only for it to start all over again at the same time next year.

Moss is fascinating, (honestly). Here are a few facts about moss that you might not know 

• Moss has no roots
• Moss reproduces via spores and does not produce seeds, flowers or pollen
• Mosses grow in a wider range of lighting conditions than any other flowers
• Mosses have been used over the centuries as pillow stuffing, wound dressing, sanitary towel equivalents and nappies
• Mosses have not been used as food
• There are 600 different types of moss in the UK

With such an ability to produce moss and the current vogue in natural products we are thinking about the opportunities for us go into commercial production!

A new game

New Year’s Eve was a special day in our house. We had two birthdays to celebrate! Both our cats were six.

Sadly, we both forgot – though I did remember about 3pm and sang Happy Birthday to them individually. The cats were not amused and spent most of the day moping about, or maybe that was because it was cold again!

For Xmas I bought them a new game. It needed lightening reactions, amazing stamina and incredible concentration. It was basically a wheel that moves round and round and changes direction randomly with a tail attached. You hide this under a luminous yellow cover and hey presto you have an animal under the blanket game but without the need to shed blood each time they scratch me.

They have spent a good few hours playing with this. They have even shared it which is unheard of.

Mark of the devil

Just when you think that the wildlife scene has slowed down we have a new inhabitant in the garden.

This one is equally as destructive as the badger but in smaller areas. However, these areas are now very visible – right in the middle of the front lawn.

In my mind I now have a conundrum. How much do I value the aesthetic element of the garden versus the wildlife that lives in it?

I love the fact that this new inhabitant exists, but only as long as he or she is on some else’s land, (NIMBY), just like badgers really!

In case you hadn’t guessed our new inhabitant is a mole, and I have just been taking part in a mole pantomime, the week after New Year.

The pantomime plays like this ….

I go out in the morning and see another hill in the middle of the front lawn.

I huff and puff and think of the mole catcher and consider how I am going to stop it.

Later, my wife sees another hill being built and watches it with the binoculars.

Once I am alerted to it, I march out to try to see it, only for it to disappear leaving the earth behind, again. It's behind you I hear, oh no it isn't, oh yes it is!

I then hang around in the cold until the earth moves again, (twice in one day, I am lucky), and then once it moves I rush around to take a picture of the mole, only for it to have disappeared again as if by magic. It's behind you again, oh not it isn't, oh yes it is!

After three turns I get frustrated and come in.

Next stop - get out the garden spade and dig it out!

(Now the aesthetic garden part of me seems to be winning over, but I will never get away with this)

(Maybe the cats will find it??)

(No – they won’t leave the radiator or their bed in this weather as I said earlier)

(Oh well, I need to learn how to rake well when the moles move on and the weather improves).

Owl in the trees

On New Year’s day we did see a much more welcome visitor to the garden but only for a fleeting visit. This creature has been to see us four or five times before but moves quickly and doesn’t stay long. This visitor is a water rail.

If you have never seen one then look it up as it is really beautiful for an aquatic bird. Unsurprisingly I didn't get a photo of it.

Tonight, having been to the mole pantomime I followed that up with an owl chase. Having spotted a stray owl in the garden I rushed out to take a picture of it. It is to the right. Really it is there - can’t you see it? Over there by tree behind the bush.

Ok – so it is not a good picture but it is there honestly!

No quiz this week. This will return in the near future.

I have included a few pictures of the moss I have been describing in all its glory.

A bit warmer this weekend, so have a good one!

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