This is a time of year to get ahead of the game. From March onwards, everything accelerates, growth spurts and the garden divests itself of is overcoat of Winter dullness for a tracksuit all bright and fresh. This is when we like to get the garden neat and tidy. Prepare the veg beds, clear and begin to feed the borders, edge the lawns, give everything a bit of a Spring clean. Doing even the smallest of tasks now, ticking through our checklist item by item, pays dividends when things really start to shift come the end of March. It's a process and one I enjoy greatly for I like the bare bones of the garden, the formality and pure form just as much now as I like the frothiness of high Summer. There is also the tantalising hint of promise in the air.
Not that we have much real colour yet. The mono-chromatic months of Winter with its shades of grey and brown, may be drawing to a close but, what colour there is, is strictly rationed. Hellebores are now entering stage left but centre stage are our Viburnum Tinus 'Eve Price' standards which perform beautifully and so delicately each and every year.
Winter pruning is done, soon we shall divide and move plants around while adding those we have grown from cuttings or seed. Those left over can be sold at our garden openings this Summer. But for now we enjoy the simple metronomic rhythm of the process itself and the small gains which keeping ahead of things brings.
