February 2005

The viburnum on the front porch is putting on a good show
Much of the ground both in the front and back gardens is white with snowdrops.

By the middle of the month February Dold daffodils and tete-a-tete are opening out. Jjanuary Gold are still in full bloom

I prefer yellow primroses and they are blooming well in the garden beds but what surprises me is that in the old patio wall, shaded by the house all day in winter, the white and purple primroses I have there are flowering really well.

£The dapnes are still flowering well but the Garya Elliptica is beginning to look a little blowsy

This is the month I promised myself I would get the pond done but I did did not get a good start. The Friday Chris was going to help me with it, bringing a pump he had borrowed, he couldn't come as his car had failed its MOT. The next Friday he brought the pump but unfortunately it didn't work, so we started bailing. As we bailed we stirred up the muck from the bottom so the water smelt like a cesspit Most of the pond is fairly shallow but a four foot deep pit at one end accommodated the koi my neighbour over the road gave me. Apparently koi like deep water. We had only been bailing a few minutes when I stood on the pond wall to fetch out a plant. The wall gave way and I fell into the pit completely immersing myself in water and weed besides swallowing about half a pint of evil tasting water. I wasn't hurt though so as soon as I had changed into dry clothes it was back to bailing. Chris says we will have to strip the whole layer of old bricks off as the wall is obviously unsafe but my son says it is only the one mix of mortar we put in that was too weak. The rest of the wall should be all right. . I really don't think we have time to strip the wall as the female frogs were looking very pregnant. We found about fifty frogs and managed to get them all out but when we turned our backs they had all jumped in back into the empty pond. The trouble was they couldn't climb out. The side was too slipery. They were all getting so far up and sliding down again just like poor old Sysyphus in Hades. I provided them with ladders of wood and polystyrene but the majority ignored the ladders and continued climbing and sliding back. It rained that night and most seem content to sit in the puddles. Anyway I hope I have Chris coming mext Tuesday so the frogs get a proper pond before they spawn.

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