Gardening update

The last few days have been cold but dry and bright, so gardening has resulted.

• All the pruning that has to be done in early spring is done (rosa rugosa, both varieties of cornus, cotinus, the single clematis that needs to be done in spring). The cornus cuttings are drying ready to be used as supports for herbaceous annuals (see later).
• The new hedge is budding vigorously, which is a good sign.
• The never-ending weeding has started: the lodger has blitzed the space under the rosa rugosa, taking advantage of the fact that it has been cut back and can't damage his fragile skin too much; and also started digging/weeding the herbaceous bed ready for seeding with (cheap and cheerful) annuals this year.
• The detritus of half of last year's patio pots has been disposed of, and the pots washed and left ready for re-planting. More cheap annuals, me thinks, given the expense of the new hedge.
• Most impressive of all. the lodger has built a waist-height planter for salad and veg and stuff like that: the slugs and pigeons decimated last year's attempts (not to mention that bending to tend them left me light-headed and breathless so it didn't get done). The legs will be ringed with copper to deter slugs, and I need to acquire a net to ward off the pigeons.
• Seed potatoes have been set to chit and will be planted in three waves in due course in plastic planters on the kitchen patio (the patio we don't sit on, i.e. the practical patio).

There's still loads to do, but it's a good start to the year.