What’s the first thing you do? For me it’s pruning the roses. I know this should really be thought of as part of last year’s gardening, but it’s the first time-critical job that comes up after Christmas. Usually a couple of months after, in my case. So I scampered round lopping off huge vines of budlets, leaving stubby little sticks that look pretty dead - and for a few weeks I had that feeling “I’ve killed them all”. But I had that feeling last year, and still got a lot of roses.

Since then I’ve dug the veg patch and greenhouse. I put in lots of yummy organic matter prepared for me by my ten thousand little pink helpers (see them here, although some may think this picture is a little gross). And started mowing the lawn. And laid a path through the mudpatch that connects the house and the veg garden and the tool shed. Between the path and the garage there is now a little empty patch against a tempting white wall. So I got all my leftover seeds from last year - nasturtiums, spinach, poppies, that kind of stuff, and scattered them about. I hope to be eating my flowerbed all year.

Now it’s time to go to work on this alluring blank canvas. The greenery in and out of greenhouse is last year’s rocket, still eating well. The nets in the backgrounds are for the achochas to scramble up. Everything else is up for grabs!