Saturday was not what you would refer to as a good gardening day. Strong cold winds in the morning that blew in rain for the afternoon which continued overnight.

What a different story for Sunday. The weather forecast was for showers but the sun came out, the breeze was warmer, just passing clouds to darken the day occasionally.

I sowed the seed of Dahlia Coltness Hybrids a couple of weeks ago and they were ready for pricking out. If you have not tried dahlias from seed then do have a go. A packet of seed will cost you less than a corm or potted up corm from your local garden centre and you will get about three dozen plants from your sowing that will flower this year. The bonus of course is that you can lift the resulting corms in the autumn ready for replanting nest spring.

Mrs Speckles has given birth. I saw her making a nest in our large rhododendron and I noticed that Speckles was coming as usual to ask for his dried fruit but when he had his fill he was taking a beak full round to the front of the house. I layered a dogwood last year and it had produced a very health root ball. I lifted the little shrub and carried it around to its new position at the front of the house and as I passed the rhododendron I spotted Mrs Speckles sitting on her nest in her “you really cannot see me” pose. I will avoid that route for a while, not wishing to cause her unnecessary stress.  Speckles is going to be a very busy blackbird again.

This week my anemones have burst bud and the first forget-me-nots and grape hyacinths have shown themselves, not to mention more magnolia and rosemary flowers.

There just seems to be an air of optimism everywhere in the garden at the moment.