Old fart’s blog

Well we did not get the sunshine promised us today but I did manage to get out in the garden and start to get ready for spring. There is still a huge amount to do and it is a question of trying to work out what to do first. I have now trimmed the wisteria along the front of the house and spread a great pile of wood chips as mulch in the shrubbery round the obelisk. The latter was really the last step in revamping this part of the garden - rescuing it from the wilderness and replanting it with rhododendrons.

Yesterday the gardener starting fitting the fanlights to the greenhouse. He has made them in wood in the traditional way so that they match the rest of the greenhouse which dates from the middle of the 19th century. It will be quite an achievement when we have finished renovating it, particularly as it contains some very active vines which fruited well last autumn.

The season is starting at last with snowdrops peeping through in many parts of the garden to be followed shortly by a dazzling display of aconites - or at least so we are told by those who have known this garden for longer than we have. Can’t wait for the spring to come and for the garden to come alive again.