A little below 0C last night, frost on the cars and roofs but nothing in the garden although the Pink Arabis in Bay Box looked a little fried. A clear night with a full moon for Easter and Passover and waking to sun this morning.

Lunch sitting on the bench under the spruce, I haven’t really cleared that area of leaf bags so I just lifted a corner of the plastic cover over the bench. The spruce drops twigs, cones, small bunches of twigs with green needles, dead needles and general guff so the plastic keeps the bench clean and fairly dry. Watched the snow melt, posies of snow crocuses open to the sun, tulip shoots poking through everywhere. A lone deep blue scilla caught my eye in House bed.

Gently raked leaves off Porch and Shade, bird shadows silently sweeping across the garden, Dutch crocus yolk yellow, royal purple, white.

I have cleared all the tulip planters from the back of Porch bed; one is completely sodden, I must have forgotten to make some holes in the surrounding leaf bag as it was full of water. I think next Fall I will put the tulip planters between East and East 2 or East 2 and Centre without leaf bags. They will get plenty of snow cover and perhaps won’t start so early, nor will they be under the dripline if we get a lot of rain.

The sodden one was the white planter, no sign of life, Monte Carlo written on the rim so I assume that is what is in there. All 3 tulip planters are on the west side of Bay Box, out of their bags but surrounded by leaf bags for some insulation. I emptied several of the disintegrating leafbags onto the compost heap – a marvellous scent from them of warm compost, manure heaps steaming gently in the sun, so Spring-like. A couple of compostable bags went straight onto the compost.

The last bit of heavy lifting was to haul the Crinum planter up from the basement. It had not been watered all winter but still had grown shoots about 2ft high. I cut them back to about 6". That tub is now sitting in the kitchen having had its first watering. With it came the Calla rhizomes and the Begonias. Scrubbed the pottery planters and planted the Begonias, yellow and Champagne (I think that might be Picottee on Top) in the larger, the red in the smaller. The yellow Begonia had little shoots, very helpful when it is always tricky to work out which way is up. They are now in the Winter garden. I will plant the Callas tomorrow, they have little bulblets.

By the end of the afternoon, the snow was completely gone from Porch and Centre and the big rock had reappeared.

To finish off I watered and fertilized all the thirsty plants in the Winter Garden. I did think about composting the Poinsetta whose pink leaves are fading but it is growing such lively green ones that it was squeezed in between the begonia planters.

Photos: Zwanenberg Bronze; Iris reticulata Cantab; white Dutch Crocuses; Snow crocus Cream Beauty; a Corkscrew Hazel flower