Update

After yesterday's exertions I spent some time today pottering around and looking at progress elsewhere in the garden. The trees are thriving, as is everything in pots (apart from the eucalyptus which is failing to come back after its severe cut back in the autumn - but I'm not giving up on it yet!). The roses are getting new leaves, the honeysuckle which is destined for the arbour is up and running, and the trees, especially the quince, are looking very promising. It has been a strange spring without bulbs, but I was too late last autumn, after we moved in October, and by the time I got round to thinking about it the garden centres were all out of bulbs. Better luck this year! But some primulas have appeared along the bank, which is nice. And the dead looking clump of grass is starting to come to life again, looks like it could be quite large when it gets going.

The main casualty is the snow-in-summer, which all seems to have curled up and died. I wonder if it would have been better to pot on the little plants into larger pots of compost, and then transplant them later, rather than putting them straight into heavy clay soil, especially as we then had several weeks of heavy rain. Might try that again, as I am really keen to grow this plant - it just looks so good on sunny banks.

I still await the arrival of the bluebells in the green, the two dwarf buddleias for the patio, and the asparagus crowns, but at least the bed is ready for the latter now!

Apart from dealing with the seedlings etc, the main garden tasks for the next few months are dealing with the last of the brambles, tidying up the patio area, and building the arbour and planting it up. Emlyn and Barry kindly left me a bag of sand when they finished the patio extension, for me to use when laying the paving slabs which the arbour is to stand on, so all I need is some paving slabs, a bag of gravel, a spirit level, and a willing Matthew! Once it is assembled and in place, and before I plant, I think I will paint it with the same stuff I used on the garden bench last year, as it is attractive and apparently hardwearing, easy to apply and didn't make me feel sick! It would be wonderful to be sitting in my arbour by midsummer...

Wildlife note - lots of bumblebees around already. And I think the collared doves and the woodpigeons might be nesting, as they are now coming to feed singly where before they would come in pairs. And the mole seems to have emigrated - for now, anyway.