29th December

Wow, I actually got out into the garden today. I wrapped up warm, with thick hiking socks, woolly hat down around my ears and about 4 layers of clothes on my upper body and got to work. I began a skim of the top few centimetres of soil on the borders to get twigs and leaves off and to reduce the height of the soil for a mulch of compost to be put down. In sieving the compost I found it to be rather sodden and difficult, so I spent a lot of time cleaning off the sieve which was becoming blocked all too frequently.

As dusk was drawing in and the temperature was falling I moved on to tasks I could complete. I tidied up the strawberry plants – a job that is about 2-3 months overdue, cutting off yellowing leaves and runners, and in so doing finding I have twice as many plants as I started with – all the more for next year!

As the light failed I quickly turned my attention to emptying the hanging baskets and potting up the 3 fuchsias for overwintering in the conservatory – another job that is overdue, this time by 2 months. I then retired inside for a nice cup of Earl Grey tea.