15 February
The weather has been dry and mild recently in the Borrowdale Valley. With this encouragement, the early spring flowers are making an appearance particularly snowdrops which are in full bloom and daffodils which are pushing through. There have been some overnight frosts under starry skies and we may continue to experience frosts through to early May! So, it is early for too much new seasonal planting, although the seeds for the herbs needed in the kitchen over the summer have been planted out this week. These include chives, thyme, oregano, mint, marjoram and five varieties of garlic. The birds are noticeably noisier and it is lovely to hear the woodpeckers at this time of year. Our resident red squirrels though seem to have disappeared (hopefully temporarily) in the face of the grey squirrels’ relentless march across parts of the Lake District.