Slightly less freezing, the snow starting to melt then turning to ice during the night. Minus 8.7C last night; I’m expecting some of the less hardy to give up in these conditions. Minus 3.5C in the greenhouse last night, which now smells strongly of frost-bitten tulbaghia. Too cold for any outdoor activity so I’m starting off this years veg and being indoors. The big freeze is due to end tomorrow so the landscape will return to its normal form.
Daytime highs of minus 2 and down to minus 6 at night. A foot of snow, now ice: lockdown v3.
Cold and wet, at times bright and mild, but mostly cold and wet.
The railway embankment collapsed from all the rain. Since then there’s been a 24-hour salvage operation, but the relative quiet has been different.
Today there’s snow, we have peak daytime forecast of -1degree C for the next week. It looks like it may settle, so there will be pics to follow.
As always, there’s a few early starters, but even these are a little later than in previous years – which I’m putting down to all the rain.
Not much more to be said about our current situation, but on the shortest day there’s a quietness about North Kent that makes this time of year even more unusual. There’s been some rain, some wind, some cold but mostly a combination of all the weathers including mild sunny afternoons and frosty mornings. Not much chance of a white Christmas (or so we are told) – but there will be treats and gifts and a fire.
In the garden its the ideal time to move trees and shrubs, so I have been busy.
Wet grass in the mornings, sun lower in the sky, an amazing range of toadstools; it must be autumn. Time for moving things around, planting bulbs, and for finally getting the whole plot bunny-proofed. The autumn colours seem to get better by the hour. Then – just when they reach their finest – the leaves fall, lying around their former trees, food for worms. Everything ends, and there can be great beauty in these final moments.
Acer rubrum ‘October glory’
Seasons of Snakesbury 