The weather remains cool and breezy or windy.  And dry. I wish we had some of that early warm weather, and rain.This morning there was spitting rain – and snow flurries. There is very little sense of seasonal progression in the garden. This is the single daffodil in bloom, besides the very early Van Sions, but you can see (if you look closely) that buds are showing some color.

Over the weekend my husband got all the little motors checked out and operational. The only one he put into use was the chain saw. He did a radical pruning of this semi dwarf apple tree to make room for a serious, high fence  we are building to keep out the deer. With some luck we’ll keep out the rabbits, too.

Underneath that apple tree I noticed that the scillas are starting to bloom. They seem to have scattered themselves rather widely this year.  A few Glory of the Snow (Chionodoxa) are also beginning to bloom down here in what we used to consider the orchard. Now only two trees are left, the nameless tree just pruned, and Liberty, disease resistant apple that gave us a good crop last year. Over the past few years we have gradually taken down the other trees that limped along after being severely damaged by horses the year we rented our house while we were in Beijing.

Yesterday it dawned on me that instead of moving my little flats of greens in and out of the house every day, I could move them into my makeshift coldframe. It is not very lovely, but it is functional. I checked the plants this morning and they came through the night in good shape. Then I closed them up again. Lots of wind this morning.