It finally snowed overnight, just a white dusting that’s fast turning to slush. As I suspected, the gated plot where our edible plants grow in raised beds is significantly more exposed to the elements than the shady garden where we grow ornamentals.

There was still snow on the gated plot when I visited mid afternoon. The temperatures have risen and there’s a dripping dampness in the air. The soil is no longer frozen. The leafy veg bed, under the wall and covered in fleece and plastic, seems to be surviving under the wet covering. I’m expecting the frisee lettuce to surprise us all with rich spurts of lacy greenery in March. The chard (left) will be fine: it always is.

To the west of the station building, the shady plot is clearly sheltered by the overhanging trees and the corrugated iron wall of the scaffolding business next door. There was no evidence of snow whatsoever. My hunch that this area is fairly well protected proved right. I’m confident that our bulbs, already pushing up through the soil, will survive. The fuchsias, however, will probably have succumbed. Their leaves were grey green and soggy. I place my hope now in the cuttings we took in the Autumn.