With all the bad news at the moment it is good to turn our thoughts to the arrival of spring. At the moment it seems that spring is still a long way off. Looking at my garden bulbs are beginning to make a valiant effort to arise from the frozen ground despite cold winds and frosty nights. The lawn is soggy and in need of a cut. Last year’s flowerbed is a jumbled mess in need of a drastic sort-out. Looking out of the window I have good intentions to begin to get everything back into shape but have yet to grasp the nettle (no pun intended). Snowdrops gamely bend in the gale-force winds despite their fragile form. They are some evidence that nature is fighting back.

In the autumn to brighten up two wooden garden chairs I gave them two coats of bright red paint. With the harshness of winter they have remained in the greenhouse. To have left them out would have meant another coast of paint. They have yet to make an appearance.

To date I have not made any effort to buy seeds for summer vegetables. No doubt Monty Don would say I need to get my finger out and start the process.

We planted some wildflower seed in our front garden hoping for a floral display. It looks like all we have achieved is to provide the birds with a variation on their diet. There is no sign of any first shoots.

Having bought a bare root rose planted in October we await to see if it will produce the wonderful blooms it promised on the label. At the moment it looks exactly the same as when we bought it. It may well just be my lack of patience but it needs to get a move on.

My biggest problem is the lawn. It remains an overgrown unsightly patch. I have every intention of leaving some of it to grow free from being cut. This is my contribution to wildlife. If I am honest the patch I have in mind is always difficult to cut and leaving it to nature is a good excuse not to touch it.

In my enthusiasm last year I planted far too many tomatoes such that it was almost impossible to enter the greenhouse. They all grew and I was overrun with them. I have learnt my lesson and will limit them to just a few pots.

With any luck my plastic compost bins will provide me with material to top up my small vegetable patch. The fruit trees have been totally neglected such that the yields will be up to nature.

As I contemplate the coming gardening season the more it is evident that there will need to be a lot of hard graft for it to be presentable. I am looking forward to the challenge but not until it is sunny and warm. It might be a long wait.