Keeping Busy

The Fuschia from Tatton park trying out the new cold frame. Hil's kindly donated it to me and I spent over two hours yesterday wrestling with it in the falling light. I was frozen by the time I had completed it in the darkness. It will be used to extend the growing season by two months, one before in Spring, and the other in Autumn. I saw some Rosemary bushes nearby which I will acquire some cuttings to see if they will root over the winter in my coldframe..

The cold frame in situ. I am thinking of moving it to under the kitchen window so the warmth from the house can get into the box. It is constructed of metal frame with double plastic sheets slid into runners. It is quite roomy at the moment. It needs to be filled with plants!

This is inside the Outhouse, I love the play on words. It was formally a toilet, which has now been removed and a combi boiler placed in it. It has a power supply, lagged pipes around the floor, and a fitted shelf to one side. I cleared out all the refuse and binned it. Swept the dust and snail shells out then put in a few pots, the garden tools, my green box for potting up, and hung a few tools on the wall.
I climbed up a wobbly stepladder to clear the crud from the guttering, removed a weed that was growing twelve feet in air at the top of the kitchens drainpipe.
The ground was frozen solid. The primulas looked like icicles.The only plant that was not frozen was the Camelia. The frozen water just melted off the leaves leaving them glossy as ever. Do Camelias have some special chemical to keep their leaves unfrozen?
I planted six lots of Seeds today. Iris, Hellebore Black beauty, White Lisbon onions in a seed tray for early next year, and three herbs of Basil, Coriander, and Parsley.
Its been too cold to linger outside, unless you have a warm coat on, and are doing something to keep moving. Like cleaning outhouses, gutters, and sweeping the stone slabs.