Sun maps and seeds

Cicero, one of those thinky people in the seemingly endless legion of thinky people that were floating around Rome in ancient times, once said something akin to 'if you have a garden and a library you have all you need' (though I might hasten to add dogs, wine and chocolate to that short list).

Having myself suddenly been plonked onto half an acre of semi cultivated garden then I might update that to 'if you have a garden and a library (and a house and a dog) then you probably won't have time for anything else'. Or, even more succinctly, 'if you want to get rid of drama from your life, get garden' (is that a quote yet? Because if it's not, it should be).

All this is a very roundabout way of saying that my new green patch has quite rapidly taken over my life and thoughts. I've suddenly found an urgent need for all those slightly ratty clothes that I kept aside for 'outside work' (but that were quite honestly just collecting in small piles in the back of my wardrobe) and my work boots have become my go-to shoes. It's all still pretty dormant out there in garden-land but I'm looking forward to reaping the rewards of the crops already in place (berries, I'm looking at you) and discovering some surprise pop-up additions to my already impressive range of cottage plants.

There's a standard piece of advice in permaculture circles along the lines of waiting for a year before getting stuck into anything too serious but there are certainly a lot of smaller jobs and planning to do that will keep me busy enough for the next 12 months. But with spring only a few weeks away, there's a lot of planning to be getting on with.

Some transplanted cabbages which may not come to anything

I've never grown hellebores before but I've become an immediate convert - which is lucky as there's a lot of them!

Fat camelias

The record rainfalls of the past few weeks haven't helped what was already a questionable planting site choice

Moving soil around, it's what I do now. As well as finding temporary solutions to deal with bad plant parenting decisions from the former owners.

An apricot tree in preparation for some understorey companion planting in Spring.

The sheltered north-east corner, and future Mediterranean garden!

And as for books...

Waiting for summer...