OH-HO STARTED ALL OVER AGAIN

(Apologies to Brenda Lee).

Weed the bed, lightly fork, top dress with old manure or compost and move to the next bed - getting the veg beds ready. Cutting back the willows around the compost heaps (using willow was probably a mistake as it roots so easily but I was in a phase of willow tunnels and arches and had a free supply at the time). 

All is rather muddy as we have little really cold weather, just cool and damp.

So plod on, a bit at a time. Light the bonfire which goes out almost immediately, rake some weed out of the pond, and R is trying a new way of getting rid of moss on the tarmac etc. by using bio washing powder. It seems to work but as we have a lot of moss it might turn out to be expensive.

We have good sunrises whe the clouds are not down like a big wet blanket. Weather does not really seem to affect the birds especially the pheasants. Here he is again - "Got any seed mister?" or something like that. It is amazing how quick he can react to the shake off old jar full of sunflower seed.

So what did we do on New Year's Eve - well went to bed actually.

And after staggering around I have trimmed back the Rambling Rector rose that throws out shoots like giant thorny tentacles.

Still colour in the beech leaves and undersides of the magnolia grandiflora leaves, on the acer stems and in the hypericum black berries - is black a colour?

And as it is winter, though so far a mild one, we do get frost as on the leaf above or the cold frame below.

 So, time to do the pond - but I have no waders and no matter what R says I am not going paddling, rake out some stuff but that is it. Anyway my balance is so bad I would probably fall over - yeh, yeh, ha ha.







Elsewhere the moss is thriving, the new spring is running and some plants just look like they might, surprisingly, overwinter - this is an opium poppy that failed to flower last year.

 4 pm and going dark again but not quite as dark as a week ago.
Walking home from town, a mile in, same back, R and I realised it is 46 years since I returned to Ulverston to start as a Family Doctor!
Too old now so no Oh-ho, no starting all over again - been there, done that, earned my cup of tea and a shortbread biscuit.
Must buy some sugar as we are almost out of jam.