My gardening diary

MONDAY The weather has played such tricks, it’s difficult to know what to expect. Everywhere we’ve been, both north and south, making a new programme for next year, we’ve been greeted with surprises. Daffodils blooming before primroses, and ponds full of frog-spawn with frozen surfaces and a layer of snow! It’ll right itself though.

TUESDAY There has been an abundance of goldfinches in the garden. Neil puts out a whole menu of bird foods, but the goldfinches seem particularly partial to nyjer seed. They seem to scoff the lot!

WEDNESDAY We’re marking hellebores that are out of sync with our plans prior to moving intruders. Where they’re allowed to self seed willy-nilly, they can become very samey, and it waters down their impact.

THURSDAY Several new varieties of sedum were potted on into 3-litre pots in the autumn and their new shoots are several inches tall now. They’re the easiest plants to take basal cutlings from. From plants with 10 or so shoots, I’ll take three, sliding a sharp knife between the shoot and the crown of the plant. Carefully removing a few of the lower leaves, they’re dibbled around the side of a clay pot filled with very gritt compost.

FRIDAY I’ve left final pruning on our roses until now. Pruning promotes new growth and if frost damages new shoots, growth and flowering can be adversely affected.

SATURDAY We’re trying out a summer-flowering purple broccoli. They’re in a half seed tray and the seedlings have true leaves already. They need to be pricked out into individual modules and grown on before being planted out. Grown like this they’re less prone to club root.

SUNDAY Ma , who helps here, used the pressure washer on the brick garden and made an excellent job. Apart from the steps in between different levels, all the bricks are bedded in sand. We need to sweep fresh sand in between the bricks to prevent them moving around.