Anne seems to capture February in these lines. Jenny and I have both returned to the garden in the second half of the month and the wind has certainly blown fresh and free along with some sunshine though, it must be said. The few mornings that we have ventured out have indeed been quite sunny and smiling.
The main tasks to date have been to collect up all the dead leaves and general detritus that has fallen or blown into the garden over the winter months. I, for one, have been quite amazed at how much of this matter there has been. We seem to have filled bags and bags of such but once the task had been completed it certainly left the ground looking cleaner with the new shoots more visible.
The next preparation phase has been to gently turn the top surface of the soil which seems, in our estimation, to enable the new plants to “breathe” and find their own space, hopefully to flourish. While the surface is opened up and exposed we will spread some natural compost to the soil which will be absorbed and re-nourish the soil content.
Even in February there are pretty colours in the garden with snowdrops, hellebores and winter aconites in full flower.
One new issue for us to attend to currently is that of a few hens roaming around the graveyard area and they have encroached, at times, into the garden. We know not where they have come from but we will be trying to restrict them to the graveyard!
Now at the end of the month our thoughts are beginning to turn to slightly more gentler tasks such as a little bit of light pruning, buying some spring flowers for filling gaps and just enjoying the garden in springtime as the various bulbs begin to flower.