Ne'er cast a clout...

Is it late winter or early spring? It feels like winter (bitterly cold and a thick white frost this morning) but looks like spring. The crocuses are up and my twisted hazel is covered in pollen drenched lambs tails.

I can feel it coming on. That gardening thing. I’ve think that I've mentioned it to you before. Around this time in early spring I start to think of plants and seeds and cuttings, and before I know it I’m off to the garden centre for some big bags of compost. Yes, I can definitely feel it coming on.

The temptation is to start too early at the first hint of sunshine. I’ve done it before, putting plants into cold frames and baskets long before it is sensibly sensible, sometimes I’ve even got away with it. I have to keep reminding myself that it’s still winter, that frosts are likely even in May and sometimes into June. But I’m an optimist when it comes to gardening and can’t adhere to ‘Ne'er cast a clout till May be out’ which I’d always thought was a gardening phrase but turns out simply to be a warning not to leave off your coat until the end of May. It just proves how wrong I can be.

I came across this bee at my mother-in-laws this morning. I didn’t expect to see him. In fact I didn't see him at first, but there he was bumbling around, the first bee of the year busying himself with collecting crocus pollen. He must think that winter’s over.

He realy should be wearing a coat.