Having complained endlessly about the rain and the soggy, boggy garden I find to my surprise that the ground is beginning to dry up. We ahve now had over a week of dry weather and the puddles are disappearing (its bound to rain again any day now and I shall be back to square one). So, in spite of the grey skies and icy cold winds, I have been able to get out there and cut back some of the ornamental grasses and other perennials. There’s a huge heap of dead stuff waiting to be burned. There’s much more to do and I’m pacing myself to try to prevent my aching wrist from siezing up.

I saw what I thought might be the answer to my slightly arthritic wrist and that is an electric Felco secateur set. Wildly expensive but if it saved the pain then it could be worth the investment. The rep came to do a demonstration the other day. Its a really nifty piece of equipment and will cut through quite thick branches like a butter knife through butter. It has been developed mainly for vine and orchard pruning so, sadly it really wasn’t siutable for cutting down masses of perennial plants. If anyone knows of a tool that is maybe like some small shears which are electically powered I would love to know about it.