February 9th

Work starts on the hedge

The new year has got off to a good start in the garden.  We’ve a few projects planned but, in our usual way, we’ve begun on something completely different!  One job long talked about but always put off is what’s to be done with the old, native hedge between the orchard and lane.   It’s made up mostly of very old hawthorn plants that are overgrown with nettles and bracken.  It’s sparse at the bottom with a thicket of growth at the top, not helped by an annual trim by flail.

My husband and younger son have started relaying the hedge and so far it’s going well, although I’m always slightly alarmed at the amount of wood cut out.  We’ve already had to spend one whole day clearing up the prunings before moving on to the next section!

While the hedging is in progress I’ve been busy digging out a heap of well-rotted grass clippings that have piled up over the years, almost to the height of the boundary fence.  Not wanting the dogs to escape over the top, we’ve used them as a mulch on the asparagus bed and on the new bed that’s planted with autumn-flowering plants.

It’s one of my favourite times of year to be working in the garden – well wrapped up, of course – and it’s so rewarding to discover bulbs and other plants starting into growth.  At the moment the first clump of snowdrops is flowering, along with many cyclamen and the first hellebores.

Snowdrops planted to naturalise in the grass are just pushing through, and I must start walking on the path to avoid trampling them.  As in previous years, this part of the garden is now fenced off for a while to prevent the dogs digging up bulbs or knocking blooms off.