The first dry weekend of the year and I’ve been able to spend the whole day in the garden, my spirits are soaring.  It’s still wet underfoot so much so that water pools into the holes left by the tines of the fork, so to avoid compacting the soil I decide to keep off the beds.

At first light I open the curtains to a scene resembling a backdrop taken straight out of one of Hamlyn’s tales, the garden is bedecked in a thick layer of frost and feels ethereal.  By the way, despite the sun and blue sky it is mid-afternoon before the frost melts completely.

Up to now the winter weather has been mild, apart, that is, from the wind and the rain, but I’m still surprised to see how many plants are still in bloom, the roses and the penstemon in particular.

This is the month when I start planning the garden for the year, I walk round, noting and listing all the jobs that need doing.  The list is long and often daunting and could very easily overwhelm, however, I’ve learnt to restrain myself and not look at it in its entirety, instead I concentrate on one item at a time and sure enough it becomes more manageable.  A lesson learned through gardening that has happily improved both my working and personal life.

The first job of the day is to cut down 4 fruit trees, 1 pear, 1 apple and 2 cherry trees.  Sadly they are all diseased and have not responded to treatment so it’s time for them to go.  I’m a little fearful of using the chainsaw and I’m careful.  Hopefully, this will be its first and last outing of the year.  I coppice 2 birch trees so that in a few years’ time I will be able to harvest strong poles for use in the garden and finally I prune two sycamores that border the garden.   I saw the thick branches/trunks into logs and save the spindly flexible ones for making plant supports, everything else goes on the compost heap.  More about compost in a later post…….

Cymraeg