| 2006Intro | Jan | Feb | Mar | April | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
During most of January and the first half of February Leicester suffered under an evil spell cast by some anonymous maleficent spirit. While the rest of the Midlands enjoyed chilly bright sunshine, Leicester lay under a pall of thick cloud. People huddled indoors and kept their lights on even at noon.
Despite that the snowdrops thrived. The view of my mini-wood from my kitchen window has cheered me daily up as I get on with the mundane task of washing up
Every day I would force myself to wander into the gloom to break the ice on my small pond. I had to break it noisily because every time I replaced the floating ball that was supposed to keep the ice from freezing over completely some animal, a cat, or possibly a fox removed it and took it down to the bottom of the garden. Whenever the cold relented sufficiently for the pond to thaw, I dredged out the dead frogs that had come out of hibernation too early. They were probably the frogs that had found no room left n the pond last year after they had come out of hibernation at the proper time.
In my pond's earlier days the month of March brought a reasonable number of mating frogs. I enjoyed waiting for the first appearance of spawn and watching the development of thousands of tadpoles. Those tadpoles, though, survived too well. For the past three years, come March, the pond, which is only three metres long, less than a metre deep, and about one and a half metres at its widest, has been so full of frogs in all three dimensions that there has been inadequate space for the masses of spawn.
I suspect that overcrowded frogs create their own abortificients because most of the spawn turned green or red and nothing hatched from it. Ravenous post-orgiasmic frogs soon ate the tadpoles from the few clumps of white spawn that did develop normally.
15.02. 06
The evil spell has recently lifted. I saw live frogs swimming happily in the pond today and I disturbed innumerable still hibernating frogs as I bustled around tidying the garden. I hope nature's culling has been successful and that I see some, but not too many tadpoles develop into new frogs this year.
16.02.06
Snow drops have been joined by primroses and crocuses and winter heathers. I was pleased to see one of the winter aconites I planted has flowered. they are difficult to establish but now one is healthy I hope it will spread itself. The hardy cyclamen are still doing well and I have planted out some flowering iris reticulata I started off in the cold greenhouse. They seem to do better that way.
28.02.06
The cold weather has returned but the frogs are still lively. I counted fourteen in the pond today today
Now let me have a look at the memo I left myself.
Memo to myself
- Buy and chit potatoes Yes
- Split snowdropps Too early to do so
- Fertilise raspberries Partly
- Sow cabbages Yes
- Sow lettuces Yes
- Prune Buddleia Partly