Time to catch up with my somewhat neglected virtual garden diary. It has been a really beautiful weekend here. Calm, blue skies and sunshine throughout. It has also been a most pleasant temperature - yesterday was so mild that I was able to potter about in the garden wearing a t-shirt rather a warm fleece which is my normal November gardening attire. We have still to experience our first hard frost although there was a slight trace of white on our neighbour's roof one morning last week. It soon evaporated though. My priority this weekend was filling the green waste bin which will be wheeled up our lane on Monday ready for the last collection of the year so of course I just had to cram in as much as possible. The service resumes in the third week of February and by then the bin will no doubt be full to the brim again. Earlier this week the monthly speaker at my local u3a gave a talk on the subject of waste disposal which after a dry start turned out to be more interesting than I had anticipated. It was fascinating to find out out what happens to the contents of each bin once it is emptied.
There was time though after the hard work for exploration. The most exciting discovery was to see some seedlings of arum mamoratum italicum poking through the ground. I wasn't sure what they were at first until I saw the distinctive black spotting on the leaves. Funnily enough I recently saw an episode of Carol Klein's great television series on autumnal gardening, in which she sowed fresh seeds of this striking foliage plant. The next day I collected the bright red berries from my plant to sow. Obviously nothing has happened as yet but was I most delighted to see these self-seeders. Funnily enough I had been talking to a friend about sowing these the seeds and she mentioned that she found them self-seeding in her garden but this is the first time I have had the pleasure. I will have to extract them sooner and later as they are in a place where they could easily be accidentally trodden on and somebody in this household does have rather large feet.
On the subject of Carol Klein one excellent series has finished but a continuation of the programmes where she visits one garden over the course of a year has replaced it. This is on Channel 5 on Thursdays at 7.00 pm and well worth watching whenever you can.
In the same border another surprise was waiting for me - the not unexpected signs of snowdrop snouts poking through the ground. The first to reveal themselves this year are the early flowering 'Fieldgate Prelude' and 'Philippe Andre Meyer which I thought flowered later. Of course there is always the possibility that the squirrels might have been switching the labels for fun so I will just have to be patient and wait to see what happens. I have previously noted that my pots of special snowdrops had snouts coming through but these are the first to come through in the garden.
Another bulb that is showing and is not far off from flowering is the diminutive and early flowering narcissus 'Cedric Morris'. The flower buds are very much in evidence but no sign of colour yet.
In other news the pile of bulbs to be planted is I'm glad to report slowly diminishing. The containers that were virtually emptied over the weekend and contents snipped for the green bin can now be planted with the tulips that have been patiently waiting in the shed. In the meantime I'm tempted to order one or two more packets of bulbs at half price and then of course it will soon be time to seriously start to study seed catalogues in earnest. First and foremost plans are afoot to sow some sweet peas next month - a first for me so the supplies need restocking. I wonder what everyone is else is up to in their gardens at the moment.