<a href="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/garden-wiresmar18.jpg"><img class="alignleft wp-image-4867 size-medium" src="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/garden-wiresmar18-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="300" /></a>As the days start opening out, after the snow has melted away my thoughts turn to the garden and the jobs that need to be done before everything starts growing.

When we first moved in we bought two apple trees (Bramley and Cox's Orange Pippin) with the intention of espalier training them against the fence however circumstances worked against us and after nearly four years I've put in posts and am in the process of stretching stainless steel wires between them. The idea now is to prune the trees back so they will grow horizontally along the wires. This might take a few years of careful pruning to get them back into shape because they've grown upwards. To fit one level of wire <a href="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/nursery-visitmar18.jpg"><img class="alignright  wp-image-4868" src="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/nursery-visitmar18-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="207" height="276" /></a>took me two hours but I am getting faster so the next wires should be installed faster but I'll have to wait for another dry day before venturing out.

A weekend in the south of the county with Mary and we visited a <a href="http://www.rasells.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">local nursery</a> where I purchased a black Hellebore and took a fancy to a Daphne but haven't purchased one yet. It's a winter flowering shrub with a heady scent that smells of cloves. My garden lacks colour in the summer apart from the green Hellebores which are spreading like weeds - another job is to lift them and move them into a better position in the borders.

<a href="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/mistletoemar18.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-4869" src="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/mistletoemar18-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="300" /></a>On a seven mile walk across the <a href="http://www.grimsthorpe.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Grimsthorpe Castle</a> estate with Mary we saw lots of oak trees festooned with mistletoe. I don't remember seeing it before in such large bunches.

After all the snow and rain the fields were exceedingly wet and muddy - it was heavy going. There were times when our boots were so thick with mud we were several centimetres taller.

It was a relief to get back to a cuppa with wholemeal toast spread with ginger curd. Life can still be full of surprises ;-)