Brr! Baby it's cold outside!!!

 I ventured out briefly yesterday afternoon because I hadn't finished the shredding yesterday. To say it was cold is a bit of an understatement! The fog hadn't really cleared and even the thermal gloves didn't prevent the fingers from going numb. Shredding is an activity that doesn't require much moving about but the trip from the shredder up at the sheds down to the compost heap got the blood moving again - of course the pain as the fingers came back to life wasn't very nice either! However, I managed to get all the shredding done and the yard swept and the final task was to turn off the outdoor taps and remove the hoses. One year I neglected to do this important task and ended up with connections burst open and water streaming in all directions. Now  I turn off the tap at source (inside the shed). then I remove the hoses, then I turn on all the outside taps. This has proved very effective in previous years so I hope it will work again for me this year.

I checked on the Winter Jasmine that had almost disappeared  and I suppose I should be grateful that it is producing any flowers - but really! This is truly pathetic!

This is a slip from my sister's plant which is really magnificent but I'm obviously doing something wrong! Before I discovered Helebores this plant was the only winter flower I knew about but I may have to give up on it if I can't persuade it to do a bit better!