I think we might have made a mistake, a big one! On the sunny side of the garden the border we inherited was overgrown, ramshackle planting with no rhyme or reason. At the rear a very pushy elder tree entangled with a leggy veronica constantly moved in on the other planting. We have never really decided what to do with it. The only photograph I could find of it was the one above with me and the lovely lady, Anthea of Alex Lee Audio who narrates my books (available on Audible.) As you can see it was green and provided privacy but ... that's about it. Last year (see above) I decided to keep it jungly, and add some colour with Canna and dahlias but again the monster alder continued to elbow everything else out of the way. The fence (I use the term lightly) between us and next door was rotten and collapsing beneath the assault. To add to this, next door are not gardeners and we were besieged by encroaching  ivy and bramble  from their side. I am not getting any younger and ...

A couple of weeks ago we had a covering of snow and freezing temperatures. Then we had days of heavy rain. I thought Spring would never arrive yet quite suddenly, with no warning, it visited for just a few days. On Friday the lawn was still under a few inches of water in places, but we knew it was going to stay dry for a few days so we ordered in a ton of compost to mulch the borders. I cannot stress the importance of good soil. At our old garden we were lucky with rich loam and a plentiful supply of horse manure. Here, the soil is thin and sandy and bone dry in the summer. A good thick layer of mulch this time of year helps to trap in moisture, adds nutrients and gradually improves the structure of the soil. It was quite hard work. My trusty under gardener did the wheel barrowing while I weeded, forked the surface and spread the compost. Some people think mulch is unattractive and the surface is liable to dry out but the idea is to get your plants to grow so strongly the soil will not...