Kerb appeal
I’ve almost forgotten how to do this: three long weeks away in London and not a peep from the garden blog. But I’m back and full of news.
The studio is finished – even down to guttering and the cat flap. But I can’t quite sort out the photographing yet as there is so much detritus outside that needs clearing away first.
But once Manu comes tomorrow and finishes the interior and gives me a hand with small carpentry bits then I can snap away and proudly show it off. I need to get the chipboard up on the front walls (we ran out of material on Manu’s last visit) and get the water butts in place.
But clearing was the first order of the day when I arrived Monday. We have had a huge amount of snow and then a thaw. Melt water running everywhere. I can’t see any major damage, or flooding. Just lots to do.
First up was to rake the leaves in the courtyard. The mulberry managed to shed most of its canopy in one damp afternoon. If there’s a wind as well I have to chase the leaves all over the property. And they are big fat cumbersome beasts. Can’t see what the silkworms found alluring about them at all. I haven’t managed to get them all tidied away, but at least now they are in more manageable lumps. 
The front door has had its Christmas wreath from Andrew attached. I was worried that the deer will eat it. And it may still happen. But it looks so fetching on the door knocker that I will try and keep it there for a bit longer.
I had arrived late-ish to the property and had forgotten that it gets dark just after 530pm. Not fair! I have so much to do outdoors. Particularly as it is so mild. But I had to come in. So with all those hours ahead of me (defrosting the house and feeding the fire endlessly) I decided it had to be a garden related task. 
Seed sorting. So so satisfying. So I pulled out all the packets that are in bags and boxes in the office and have put them into a sort of order: seeds that need to start in February, all the way to the ones that will languish until May. Not a bad start for the first day.