One week on and what a difference in the weather. Saturday the sun came out for a while but the bitter cold wind was did not make gardening very pleasurable. It did enable me to take a few photographs of buds bursting for my garden pictorial records. For the photographic buffs out there the opportunities were limited due to the blustery breeze and some were a blur and waste of time.

I went into the greenhouse and potted up more tomato seedlings to give to a friend who in the past has bought in plants from the garden centre. He is away for 3 weeks and so I will be keeping them in the greenhouse for him but that is what we gardeners do for each other isn’t it.

Saturday night and early Sunday morning it snowed, we woke on Sunday morning to find everywhere white. Take a look at the pictures of my viburnum, one from Saturday and one from Sunday. Later the sun emerged and it was a beautiful but cool day.

I previously mentioned that the birds have been stripping my old coir hanging basket lining for nesting material. Try as I may I could not capture them on film committing the crime. They would come and pinch beak fulls while I stood nearby but if I had my camera over my shoulder they became shy and would not stay. Even if I stood in my conservatory the result was the same, nothing doing. However on Sunday I managed to catch a coal tit in the act, not the greatest picture as it was taken through the window but at least I have one. As I sit writing this I can see a great tit pulling great lumps out!

Last year for the first time I saw a Goldcrest, the UK's smallest songbird, in the garden but I had not seen it around for several months until Sunday that is. Just a brief sighting as it came out of a trellis and on to the top of the gate before disappearing over the other side. Great to see they are still around. The number of species visiting the garden has increased over the years and I have to say it is since we started to feed the birdswith a variety of things. Most of us have to be conscious of cost these days and if you are thinking of starting to feed our feathered friends please be assured that it does not have to be an expensive pastime. Yes buy some seed but do things such as throwing out any bread past its best and apple cores.

The stars of the March garden and till going into April have been the hellebores. What good value they are in the garden flowering for weeks on end and demanding very little attention.