Why no posts for so long?

Why have I not posted here this year?

Well, it was January and very wet. No gardening to be had. I was away in February, then when I returned in March, it was still wet. Very wet.

The worse thing though was that all the daffodils in our whole garden have been eaten by deer. Usually the large back hillside garden in covered in daffodils that have spread over the life of the house. In our side garden we have the little narcissi that Wordsworth wrote about. You can see and read about them here.

Wordsworth daffodils

These are the Wordsworth daffodils growing wild in our garden in happier years.

In our main garden we also have daffodils that I've planted myself.

All gone.

This is the culprit.

Deer looking down at me from the top of our garden

The deer are not scared any more. They just look at me, as if saying "so? What you gonna do about it?" The whole area around the deer is usually yellow with daffodils at this time of year.

Oh, the woes of gardeners! I'm not alone . Every gardener in Grasmere has a similar tale. It's dispriting.
Shall I even bother to plant anything this year?
Watch this space............

Just seen a red squirrel- good news!

I was sitting at my desk, checking for any early morning messages, when out of the corner of my eye I saw movement in the garden.

It was a Red Squirrel hopping about. They're not easy to see right now against the brown bracken, but it hopped onto the trunk of a silver birch and ran up into the branches. The Grasmere  Red Squirrel Watch people put a Squirrel cam in our garden the other day . They move it round between the various local squirrel sites. Hope they got a sighting- it makes all the hard work fighting off the greys very worthwhile.

Yesterday we had two big deer and the normal bunch of sheep, one of which is very bad tempered- practically stamps it's feet when I try to "shooo- go on, get out..." them away. If they only ate the grass I wouldn't mind - just leave the daffodils please.

White Moss, Grasmere, crocus, 10 March 2010

I've found this photo on my files from 10 march 2010. This year has been so cold lately that I don't think my crocuses are out yet. I'll look for them today.

Rydal Hall Gardens

We are very lucky to be just a short walk along a beautiful Lake District path , from Rydal Hall, where the gardens, which were restored about 5 years ago, are now looking very good. We walked there yesterday, along The wonderful walk known as the Rydal round, which you can see here The herbaceous borders are obviously bare at the moment, though there are some signs of life.

A border at Rydal Hall, 5 March 2013

 

 However, there are lots of wonderful little spring flowers coming out. I've featured them on my White Moss House Blog- please take a look.

Here's a taster. This isn't from Rydal Hall, but from Dora's Field. Dora's field is the field in Rydal where William Wordsworth hoped to build a house for his daughter, Dora. The house was never built, but it is now owned by the National Trust, and every spring it is a riot of daffodils- the small wild daffodils that Wordsworth wrote about in his famous poem. Click here if you want to know more about the poem,, Daffodils, and to see lots more daffodil photos

Daffodils in Dora's Field, Rydal, 5 March 2013

 In a few days time this field will be amazing.