Happy new year to all us gardeners

Happy new year to all us gardeners. It took nine days, but today was my first trip of the year up to the plot. And I was so excited. Suddenly I am roaring with enthusiasm for a garden I neglected for a few months last year when I thought I was leaving. The weeds have no stay of execution now.

I drove up with all the paint pots, tools and other detritus that didn’t go into storage during our house move, and wheel-barrowed them down to my ramshackle shed.

Step one was to clean it out. And I can safely say that my actions are going to cause much chagrin in the rodent world. They seem to have set up a very comfortable home in there, feasting on my seeds and nesting in the mess. Stupid me for leaving them there in their packets and open boxes over the summer. I daren’t have a good inspection just yet; but I think there isn’t much of value left.

Out came all the possessions from the shed – strewn over the plot in gusty winds. And I swept and scooted out the spiders and generally made it more homely. Now I understand why there are so many nails up near the roof of the building. That’s for hanging seeds and things away from nibbling rodents. It all looks much more orderly and does show that I am one pair of secateurs short. Someone may have helped themselves to them in the past few months. Not hard when you see that I don’t even have a lock on the door. It was wrenched off last autumn and I didn’t bother to replace it. I just wedge the door shut with a long pot of hellebores.

And excitingly the hellebores are showing signs of flowers. Hurrah. They did nothing last year at all on the roof terrace – probably much too hot for them. But they do like the windy damp of the plot. Next visit I shall trim off the old leaves and see if there are enough flowers to pick.

It’s grey and mild and incredibly windy – so quite fun. And I ran into the Irish man Mick who is one of my coterie of elderly boyfriends. He hugged and kissed me when I told him I was staying, and gave me barely time to explain why before he wanted to show me his divided rhubarb. So that’s great continuity then. He is one of my mentors on the site: and would be perfect if he didn’t lunge at me every now and then when the moon is full.

Tomorrow I will get a few hours out there. More weeding of the broad bean plot. And if it stops raining, I may even be able to plant them. I am full of excited plans. And guilty that I have neglected that valuable piece of land for so many months. Time to get it neat and tidy and plant some veg.

Here is the short list of my gardening New Years Resolutions:
– Tidy the shed
– Build more structure
– Grow more veg
– More mulch