Front garden

I wandered around the garden today, whilst the small ones were napping and was struck by the sheer size of the job in front of me. I love my garden, but it's big. Or should that read, AND it's big. lol. So, I figured start at the front and work my way to the back - if nothing else, at least it would make my little house look halfway presentable.

Out front we've just got a nice square of grass, with a driveway to one side. There's little brick wall that runs along the sidewalk, about 3 bricks high, and a rectangular flower bed butts up against the wall. At least, it's supposed to be a flower bed. Today I removed the thick carpet of weeds, dandelions, dead flower stalks, half rotten geraniums and various other detritus that had accumulated over the winter.

Yes, yes, I know winter hasn't technically finished, but to me, once the days start to get longer at Yule, I begin to think about the coming year. To me, true winter runs from Samhain to Yule (Hallowe'en to winter solstice). Yule to Imbolg (Candlemas, Feb 2nd) is my stirring time. I like to start pottering around the garden on fair days. Poking the ground and thinking about what I'm going to do in the coming year. And come February, I clean up the greenhouse and start planting seeds. :)

But we're getting ahead of ourselves here. So, for today, I contented myself with grubbing about in the front yard. There is another flower bed in front of the large living room picture window, but I'm saving that for another day. I'd found a bag of 50 white daffodil bulbs that we'd picked up at a farm sale in August, and had forgotten about. A fair few of them had started to sprout, so I thought, hey, they're still alive - let's give them a chance. So I've stuffed them in the front bed, along with a hebe and a white hydrangea I discovered lurking in the back garden (another remnant from the farm sale).

By this time, the light had begun to fail. Small people had emerged from nap time some while previous and had spent a good deal of time with noses pressed to the front window, demanding in comic mime to be let out to play. Not a chance.