I had today off & was blessed with sunshine. After months of ignoring it, I spent the morning tidying up the border that is the front garden & clearing the leaves from the footpath. In November 2020 I planted a large number of daffodils & other bulbs in both the front border and the Magic Garden & it always makes this time of year special with the sheer number of them in flower.

I saw my first ladybirds of the year today too

On the other side of the bamboo, in Ben’s catnip patch, I planted out the Epimedium grandifloras ‘Bandit’ - I’m not totally convinced that it is that but time will show especially if it flowers! I also planted the pulmonaria ‘blue ensign’ & to Ben’s delight, two Nepeta Persian Blue. I’ve not covered them completely (yet) but hope I will manage to stop him killing them with love!

I then planted out this year’s first curly kale (Reflex F1) plants. Last year’s are going to seed now but have provided greens throughout the winter. This wee bed has tended in the past to get completely overshadowed in the summer but I think will get more light this year. I then covered them with mesh mainly to protect them against the pigeons.