Rather than jetting off to the snowy slopes (and my friends have done this in droves to France, Switzerland and Georgia, and my new employer to Italy) I have enlisted small helpers to plant and trim and mow our garden! Oh and we have started excavating the circular bed in our front garden, which has been designed by my daughters.

I hadn’t anticipated buying so many new plants this year, but we found a lot of unusual colours on sale in my cheap and cheerful garden supplier, Wilkos!

We have bought asiatic liliums which are so dark on the picture they are almost black! A couple of lovely blue agapanthus will be planted in a currently empty planter. Black alcea rosea will be landing in the front planters. Barlow black aquilegia will join them. Does anyone see the pattern? Despite the orange gladioli my oldest has put in her bed, I am wavering towards a slightly un-cottagey garden palate… I wonder how this will look later in the year? Especially when I am working full-time for the first time in a decade or more…