After too many days being inside over the Christmas holiday period, I was feeling a bit desperate to get outside and do something physical. We’ve had too much rain and wind to be able to do any gardening without making a mess so I decided to cut down some of the thicker stems of Salix viminalis. We need to do this each winter to encourage the new growth which is much more suitable for using for making willow structures. When its less windy (if ever?) I shall have a bonfire and burn all the wood. Its a warm job to do but I can only do it in small bursts because it wrecks my wrists.

Later, for a change of job, I cut back some of the brambles which are creeping purposefully from the south hedge and threatening to swamp some of the other plants growing there. It is part of our ‘wild’ garden but even that area needs a certain amount of control. I feel sure that if we ever left the place to its own devices that it would soon become totally over grown with brambles.

I also sploshed round the garden and took a few photos.