December garden

As in most years at this time, we have buds everywhere, our daytime temperatures are much higher than normal, we are between 12° to 14°, both the red Acer at front of garden and Magnolia are full of buds, they won't grow too much as the weather gets colder. Here in southern Hampshire our temperatures cool into January, February and March are our cold months, we don't get snow that often.

My winter Jasmin is full of tiny flowers, this is along the back fence and gives welcome colour at this time of year, my birthday hellebore is in full bloom, my others are just showing new buds. I have primroses around the back section, with violets which I adore, I like to tuck both in corners to add a extra bit of colour where it's not expected.  

My broad beans are doing well, I have a row of onions in the middle, the raised bed is working well, I have enough of a path to give access. I still have the last of my potatoes to dig out, there won't be many. I have some big plastic tray lids I want to pop on the other bed to help keep the soil a bit warmer, to help with early planting. I am going to grow more potatoes, but I have 2 bags which are designed for growing potatoes. 

My original plan was to have this table and chairs along the fence, this space is huge and it looks better with them here, I will pull them forward a bit when spring arrives, hubby will rub them down and repaint green. This corner always looked a bit scruffy, our landscaper promised he would change that, and he did. 

I was going to put these railings to the edge of the lawn, but then thought it might be unsafe for the grandchildren, both blue pots will say in these positions, the pot at the front has spring bulbs, once they have finished I will get some summer plants. Kirt is a bit alone, I can't decide what to do in this corner, for now it can stay empty. 

I have 2 new Amaryllis bulbs, I aim to start them one this week and the other later. I do love these huge flowers when the bloom, sadly none of my re-potted bulbs have buds yet, looks like another year I have failed to get them to regrow. 

Daughter and SIL came with the children on Boxing day, the children ran around our flat garden, and loved the space, no football yet, we want everything to settle, Will declared it was a perfect place for a BBQ. They had lunch with us, so our fridge is looking much better loads of bits ate, I made a big cheese board, hubby does not eat cheese, so it was nice I could buy different types, even Will loves cheese, Molly and George are dairy free, so they had their own cheese to eat. 

Later we sorted the fridge and put everything into date order, we now know what needs to be ate first, for the next few days we are having homemade soups and snack meals, we are planning a roast on Sunday to mark getting back to cooking meals. We have a good supply of biscuits, again they are packed away in date order, along with a mountain of chocolate, and a few bottles of red wine. 

I had Wednesday morning home alone before the rains started, I spent far to much time on here, catching up, I find it difficult to comment using my phone it's either anonymous or it asked you to sign in, and then rejects you. The spare bed was remade, making the room ready again for visitors, as I was alone I played my Christmas music list once more, I do love all the songs we have chosen, it's a great mix of old to modern, with carols, Welsh male voices, songs from my childhood, which my mum listened to, I always get Alexa to shuffle, so it changes every time I listen. 

We had a very windy night, our garden was OK, nothing damaged, we had nothing as bad as Scotland, but for us it was stronger than usual. I am going to pack the decorations away today, it's forecast to rain all day, so we are inside, so it's time I got the house back together.