Is it? Just as we had got used to cold winters again, it looks like January 2012 is going to be the second warmest since records began. The weather at London Road Station has been positively spring-like; the bulbs are coming up, the pansies are flowering and the chard is flourishing. But the BBC weather forecast is warning about a sudden cold spell this weekend …

The detailed forecast for us, a mile or so from the sea, doesn’t suggest yet that it’s going to go much below freezing point. I’m intrigued to see whether either of the London Road Station gardens do suffer any frost as they both seem quite protected. Neither is what you might call ‘open’ ground. The shady triangle is covered by a tree canopy. The raised beds in the gated plot are sheltered by high walls. Nevertheless, today I covered our leafy vegetables in fleece and polythene, just in case. 

However, I left the fuchsias in the shady triangle unprotected. Amazingly, they are still in flower: perhaps I have been taken in by their apparent tenacity.