Well, the resolution didn't last too long. A bitterly cold wind and having a tooth pulled (it didn't go without quite a fight) put paid to spending a short time in the garden each day! But I'm raring to go and in anticipation I have been looking at the seed catalogues and thinking about what to put in this year.

Feeling pleased with myself as I managed to spend another hour or so in the garden yesterday morning. Still hacking my way through the lavender. (The wheelie bin smells delightful!) Yesterday, I reached the part that is being swamped by a plant which was originally put in to trail over the retaining wall but which has gone everywhere but! It was pretty tough going. Because the vine has rooted everywhere it is going to be impossible to eradicate it easily but am aiming to keep it under stricter control this year.

Yesterday was glorious. The ideal sort of day to get out into the garden. The ground was very wet but fortunately there is still plenty to be getting on with within reach of the path. I spent 45 minutes or so cutting back the lavender along the drive. I've cut it back very hard. So far I've completed about a third of the length of the hedge - it's quite tough on the cutting hand.
Back in the autumn I took some cuttings in preparation for replacing the plants because they have become quite woody. I don't know how many of the cuttings took. I'm going to leave them another couple of months before I start disturbing them to look for signs of roots. It looks like some of the cuttings have been lost by digging of neighbourhood moggies. I will need to take some more cuttings in the late summer and begin to replant the hedge next year.
Miraculously the snowdrops that I planted (in the green) around this time last year have survived and are now in flower. It lifts the spirit to see them. I say miraculously because they have been pulled up, dug up etc by mistake a number of times over the summer.