January, lovely!!

Sounds like you are having a lovely January! We sat out last Saturday afternoon - the first time we've been able to do that for months!!
Well done on getting the spring jobs underway. Wish I had my usual prep jobs to do as I feel a bit lost this year and have to keep shaking the notions of buying in for this garden out of my head!!
Can't wait to see the photos of it when you are done and it's blooming

You are right, Andrea - I finally planted all the pots of various buys that had been sitting in the porch awaiting attention! I've been tidying up the last dead stems (except my Penstemons) and looking at bulbs coming up and sadly, spaces where I wish I had planted more bulbs! I know it's expensive, but I think I shall buy pots of bulbs in flower from the Garden Centre to fill the gaps. Instant colour! Maple - you can still plan for your new garden - and can you buy a pot or two of instant colour in France? It would cheer you up, and you could enjoy them in the meantime before you take them up the mountain with you.

Good idea Spritz. Sorry I'm sounding so negative, I don't mean to. I promise I will indulge in some instant colour (happiness) this weekend ;o )

Hi Maple, we are in the process of moving and i have another garden I should be concentrating on planning, but i just couldn't resist planting in this garden, the Euonymus I planted re tiny and I won't see any of the effect I would like. I knew I should have done it a couple of years ago. the back garden with the white wrapping statues in it is still very new and needs planting in the raised beds as i have taken a lot of stuff out to take with me. I know I am making more work for myself but when the bug bites.
I am going to spend the end of next week in my daughters pre-school nursery garden and I'll plant some onion sets with the little ones and give the space a clear up.
Hi Spritz, I have put some photos on my profile of my new mutt called Harry, he is a Lurcher and gorgeous, very good considering he is from a rescue centre, I did post a picture of me with my GOY T-shirt on so everyone knows how scary i am!!

not at all scary Andrea! and like you i too have been out injoying this very mild january. almost every morning i go out in my PJ's and puffer jacket with my morning coffee and have a wonder, to see if anything has sprung into flower over night, - it's all so exsiting! for me this is really the first proper spring in this new garden, so i am egar to see what has worked and if i have the colour and planting right. we moved here last december so this time last year the garden still resembled a building site! lol - oh and i have just been really naughty! i logged on ebay as i have been selling some unwanted christmas pressies to help pay off my over spending over christmas. anyway ebay have kindly given me a free £10 voucher to spend! well i decided that i needed a rose arch for the end of the garden, well i could have bought a really basic one for a tenner, but i saw a really nice wood one for £40 so i have decided to use all the money i have just made and get the nicer one! lol i just can't seem to resist these bargins!

Oh majeeka, I shall have to contact ebay and warn them that you have a 'compulsive plant-and-garden buyer disorder', and that they should, out of kindness, ban any future purchases from you! P.S. When's the rose arch arriving and which roses will you have to buy to climb over it? LOL. Maple, I did go and buy some pots of instant colour - three pots of Aconites, two of miniature daffodils and a beautiful blue Pulmonaria. I shall take its photo tomorrow. Andrea, you are brave - I am not posing in mine! I don't have to post a photo of Henry - you see him every time I talk to you! He might get into garden photos now and then, he's very nosy and likes 'helping'.

LOL - spritz i think that ebay already know about this problem i have, which is why they sent me the £10 voucher in the first place! very crafty indeed - shull i reccomend that they send you one too! lol you know we should start a help group plant-aholics annonimous - think i could be the founder member - only thing is i would'nt be any good at getting any one to 'quit' the habbit - more like recommend places to buy! i'm not sure when its arriving, as i did'nt have quite enough in my paypal account because of the postage cost, it is being transfered from my bank account, which can take a while, so proberly not for a couple of weeks. - which will work out well as valentines day is only a couple weeks away and i am likely to be working around the clock for the next couple of weeks anyway - and all that overtime pay will help pay for my new latest garden project! i have'nt decided what i will plant on it yet, have a few ideas, it will be at the back of the garden making pretty the entrance to the shed/greenhouse area - trying to hide it a bit. and it will link two beds, one is blues and reds, the other is pinks blues, lilac and whites with a touch of red. both sides i will be a bit limited for space, so i may go with the Clematis option instead of roses, maybe a dark blue/purple one side and a pale lilac the other? or red one side and purple the other? i may however, make some room on the red/blue side for a red climbing rose - David Austin of course! and then a blue/purple clematis the other, not sure yet - what do you think? any saggestions? - i am sooooo naughty arnt i - this voucher that is supposed to save money - is going to end up costing far more! lol oh well good excuse! and it will be lovely when done, i have been racking my brains with what to do with this area, i looks awful from the house and although it is hidden a bit in the summer with the Acer tree and Rhus tree it is in it's full glory of uglyness this time of year. it is not poss to put screening up because of the thick concrete base which stands a good foot above the soil level and is really uneven, so would mean digging out some of this concrete to secure post to hold a screen or fence pannels. i know the rose arch won't completely hide the area, but it will take the eye away from it. - and well lets face it i can convince Jay that we need it, but the bottom line is i wanted it! lol

Hi,
I feel I must have missed all this lovely January somehow, I reckon I have seen about a handful of nice sunny or crisp clear days so it seems. But I must be wrong and me living in the south too where its normally warmer. To me it seemed to always be raining every time I went to finish something in the garden.

But the last two days Frid/sat have been fab and got some holes dug for my veggie plot just another 4 to go. My baby only lets me stay out less than an hour before he gets bored. I am hoping to persuade him later with some wellies and a watering can in the summer. :)