Crocuses Aplenty

A very pleasant weekend, with a couple of walks, a visit to my parents, and plenty of food (including a rather good whisky soda bread). A few plants arrived, too: some single and double freesia bulbs (to go in once the frosts are past), short-stemmed lilies, and six chrysanthemums (Pyrethrum). I also received a very pretty ornamental Japanese cherry (Prunus incisa) Kojo-no mai: it's got zig-zag stems, and grows to around 1.8 m tall and wide. It'll probably remain in its pot for the spring (so the blossom can be inside, spreading its scent), and possibly in a bigger pot for another year (until its permanent home can be determined!). Cherry blossom is a rather short-seasoned treat, but the advantage of Kojo-no mai is the winter interest of its contorted stems.

This morning I've been greeted by a real density of crocuses on the ride to work. They were just coming up last Monday, but they seem to have really taken off since last Thursday, and that stretch of roadside is quite covered.

I've a new toy that I'm looking forward to setting up this week, if I can: a logging weather station. It will allow 15-minute logging of temperature/humidity, pressure, rainfall, and wind direction and speed, which I can then geekily analyse. As well as technophilic satisfaction, the temperature records will, I hope, be of use in the garden (for sowing, planting, cropping and protecting plans), as will the rainfall (because we work on the Other Side of the Pennines, it's sometimes hard to gauge the rain that's fallen at home). The wind gauge is more speculative: mostly interesting, it might be of use in determining the suitability of a wind turbine.

Any way: I plan to mount the sensor suite on a post amongst the fruit cages (where it will hopefully blend in, not be too obvious, and provide relevant data. With some luck, I may manage it this week; otherwise, it'll happen at the weekend.