ripplestone review: Now it has stopped raining...

After so much rain this winter it was beginning to feel like the ground might never be dry enough to start working in the garden. But finally, some sunshine, some dry days and some spare time.
Getting the grass cut to a sensible length has taken several sessions of mowing, a week or so apart, using the highest blade setting to take off the top and allow the grass to dry out underneath.
The lovely soft ground has meant weeding is easy and so is digging. Unfortunately the dog has found the digging good too and we now have a few extra holes in the lawn to fill and seed...

The old shed/summerhouse, with its rotten roof, finally succumbed to the winter storms and so dismantling and clearing out has left us with a big new area to use. The new, smaller shed has arrived, flat packed, so a good project for the rest of this week (holiday! Not coronavirus... ). This will give us much more patio area up at the far end of garden where the leaf-free views in winter are an extra bonus. A little seating area might well be called for. Certainly the water butts will be better positioned and less intrusive this time.

Spring feels in full flight now it has stopped raining. Bees, birdsong, the daffodils almost over, a chance to sit and sketch. To top up pots with compost and split up the pot bound hosta. To check what vegetable seeds are still in date and sow some spinach and lettuce in the raised patio planters after meticulously picking out the weevil grubs and rejuventaing the compost...
Flower seeds need sowing, cosmos, wallflower, calendula and little drifts of seedlings need identifying in flower beds.

At least two butterflies have visited the garden today and a beetle flew past. The whirring wings and unwieldly shape awkward in the air. Washing down garden furniture and clearing away the old moss and dead leaves from paths, weeding out the worst of the winter brambles and self-seeders from walls and decking, the list of jobs is long but now, at this time of year, the light is pushing on past the afternoon and into the evening. Soon there'll be plenty of time to get it all done.