Louise Jolley

Although the garden is about 4 weeks behind, it has actually given us a bit of time to get our new raised vegetable beds built, all ready for planting out.

Spring is just around the corner (I promise!) and so the garden is a hive of activity at the weekends.

After the winter solstice, my mind turns towards the return of the sun to the northern hemisphere, which is always an exciting time and I think about what I am going to do with my garden in the coming year.

To cut back or not to cut back is the big question, at this time of year. I am all in favour of cutting back, tidying the garden but leaving any interesting grasses and seedheads to be ravaged by the winter weather.

With my wedding and subsequent honeymoon at the beginning of September, most of September was spent having a fabulous time on a road trip around Arizona and surrounding states.

August was spent looking after my flowers, dead heading the dahlia's which just looked stunning, albeit a few weeks too early. I have been dead heading in the hope that new buds will arrive and open in time for my big day this Saturday.

With a cold start to the summer, I was so happy to be growing tomatoes in my greenhouse.

I'm not going to harp on about the weather, it just is what it is. The seedlings I planted for my wedding are looking quite pathetic but the dahilia's are coming on slowly but surely.

May started out miserable and has ended beautifully. The combination of rain and then glorious sunshine has made the flowers look absolutely gorgeous.

Gardeners tend to remember the weather from the previous year, for example I remember how the April showers didn't arrive and how warm the weather was.