January blues – not today!

 

After all the rain, the garden is like a quagmire, but it didn’t stop us getting out there this morning – it was glorious! 

We had intended to start sowing seeds today, but were overcome by the temptation of pottering about in the sunshine. So… the start of border clearance commenced in earnest, trouble is, the compost bins are full and haven’t yet rotted down to a useable state – do we just get more bins?  

Ollie snuck in on this one, in fact I’m amazed we didn’t notice, because he spent most of the day making himself centre of attention, mainly by barking but also other means, most notably appearing with a magpie’s wing  – we didn’t find the rest of it, and hopefully we won’t!

I’ve also found one or two suspicious looking holes in one of the borders, and judging by the state of his paws, it seems Ollie is a bit of a digger – we’ll have to work out how to deter him asap!

 Meanwhile, the first signs of new growth are evident – ‘tete a tete’ daffodils are just piercing the ground in the round bed at the side of the house and there are new buds on deciduous shrubs. Peonies are emerging, fresh lively green growth is covering the crowns of hemerocallis and amazingly (no doubt due to the lack of any really cold weather, this thistle (cirsium rivulare ‘Atropurpureum’)…is flowering. A plentiful garden – what a joy!