Garden Report 2007 - 3

I got out for the first gardening stint of the year this afternoon. The sun was out and the wind had dropped, so it seemed like a good opportunity to tidy away the worst of the remaining autumn debris up the high bank. Unlike last year, when I didn't get around to clearing the high bank until much later in the year, I want to get the benefit of seeing most of the bulbs this year.

An hour and a half and two sacks of rubbish from the asters, crocosmias, sedum 'Autumn Joy' and general crud later and the bank is looking quite good if somewhat sparse. However, the snowdrops, which are in little clumps all over it, stand out beautifully against the bare soil. Autumn crocuses and daffodils are also pushing through, and where I cut back the stems of the sedums I can already see new buds of growth. Unfortunately I can also see signs of a few nettles and sticky willy, but nowhere near as bad as last year.

It had clouded over and the wind was back up by the time I finished. My legs are already feeling achy, but hopefully, as I was not out there too long, will recover fairly quickly.

On a different note, yesterday was the first anniversary of our adoption of Jen and Poncho. I can hardly believe that a year has gone by. They each had a large chewy treat to celebrate. Jen had only had about a third of hers by the time Poncho finished his.