My favourite Woolworths replacement is stocking up on Christmas and Halloween merchandise as quickly as customers can pick it up! And it’s the latter that’s happening as the Halfterm holiday rolls in. I am struggling with priorities as I’m working from home and the garden needs weeding? In between icy spells and balmy afternoons I don’t know what my priorities are but my working hours have apparently been extended. So the brown bin is filling up but the time I get for weeding is decreasing again now.

But the reduction in things to plant in the shops I go to for essential household products can only be a good thing, yeah? I will need to prioritise the seasonal and Christmas stuff and be quite canny still when buying for everyone. Christmas looks like it will be spent closer to home this year but where is still not clear. The last eighteen to twenty-four months have seen such disruption to everyday plans, but it should mean we know more than before, but do we? We have no more idea how we avoid the virus than ventilation and keep sanitised, which was the advice a year ago. Masks are still being worn about (my youngest said she was more comfortable still wearing hers) but it’s not the law. I see so many not wearing masks but I’m trying to have one around or available for me to stick it on.

I received a package of bulbs today so I want to try and plant those tomorrow. I saw and planted colchicum bulbs when I did gardening work, and I saw them online. I bought an anemone nemerosa, crocus speciosus Oxonian and fritillaria meleagrus too. So I have an incentive to get out there at the weekend!

I do need to work on the practicality of my garden. I’ve tried to work on paths and patios but I have neither the strength, patience or time to do it. I get bullheaded every few weeks and determined to try a job which gets finished by not really completing all the stages. So patio slabs wobble and have weeds growing around them. Paviors get kicked out of line on the path and gravel gets kicked around exposing the black underlayer. But ultimately the inability to afford a sandy sub layer hasn’t helped. We are still trying to get materials for the sheds which are also having a long old gestation due to materials shortages and the exponential cost of things, post Brexit. Don’t let me ramble onto that nightmare! I mentioned Christmas?

So actually lots of things are doing better than I thought. The back is better than the front. I need to put shell/grit for keeping the snails off the front beds. Maybe that’s what I didn’t do out front! Weeding and planting will happen, sunshine or not, this weekend!