LAST WEEK OF JANUARY

Already!

So, let us get the pics snowdrops done with - by the path up to the wood and under the fallen tree they are struggling to flower.

So the asparagus bed is weeded and composted - 2 to 4 inches. Roses are pruned and manured.

We have viburnum, quince and winter honeysuckle out as well as snowdrops, the year moves on.

The bonfire will still not light.

The trellising by the shed has been taken down and the honeysuckle, rose and clematis cut hard back.

Blue tits already inspecting the bird boxes. R has had me knock off the old martin nests as they were taken over by the sparrows and she wants the house martins back.

There is still a mess in the upper garden though the path has been cleared. I am surprised at how much ivy there was on the fallen tree - no wonder it got blown over.

We do have a small vase of flowering shrubs in the kitchen but there is not much else apart from the snowdrops and some small iris beginning to show.

The euphorbias in the two pots either side of the back door are also coming into flower. The winter has, so far, been mild and damp.

We have four hen pheasants searching under the feeders

for fallen seed. It is the Big Birdwatch this weekend where people across the country count the wild birds in their gardens.

Things are a-stirring in the veg beds not least the arrival of the first planks for S the gardener to begin refurbishing them and the forcing pot has been placed over the sprouting rhubarb. We even have our first winter sprouting broccoli but R will be wondering how many hidden caterpillars are lurking there.

I continue to transport barrows full of stuff and scatter it on the beds as a mulch. 

The mowers are booked in for a service - I await their collection - and R waits for them to be gone as she wants the sheds to be cleared out of stuff - a skip has been mentioned - I still have screws, nuts, bolts, washers etc from her father's garage we brought home un the 1980s! Well, you never know when something like that might be useful.

We sit under a high pressure system, cold, grey and largely dry but little frost or breeze. No doubt that will soon change with wind and rain.