Iced Gems

With more snow on the way I thought I’d post some pics of last weeks early winter which despite being snowed in all week looked very lovely.

This is the morning view of our potager taken from the bedroom window which faces north. This sprinkling was just the start.

Some of the crops have the benefit of winter cover which, despite the weight of snow which I had to repeatedly clear, did their job and protected the spinach, chard and mache and the winter lettuces. Not forgetting my autumn sowings of onions and garlic with their emerging shoots waiting to sprint into action with the arrival of spring.

Other crops I’m afraid were left to fight it out with the snow and ice:

Various brassicas at different stages of growth – the smaller of which are under plastic containers or bottles if they fit!

Next to the purple sprouting brocoli are one of two lots of leeks  sticking two fingers up to the cold. The parsnips just kept their heads down well under cover :

A glimpse of parsnip!

At the start of the week -

and by the end of the week:

the sunflower’s winter bonnet kept getting bigger!

But, even in all this snow my tabaco plants, which like everything else in this post were grown from seed, kept flowering.

They survived the snow but the hard frost later took its toll. Just counting the days to spring.