New beginnings in the January garden

[Chilli-head]

Gardening in January.  The books all offer exciting suggestions like sharpening your secateurs and polishing your spade.  But there must be someting more interesting to do !

I've got a few jobs to do whilst things are dormant, and without all the leaves on things you can see the structure of fruit trees etc better, and get in to winter prune (not stone fruit trees though; leave them alone unless in active growth to avoid fungal diseases).

I have a few shrubs to move; anyone know if I can move an ancient tree peony without killing it ?

[Dandelion]

I know that normal peonies don't like being moved at all, but maybe tree peonies are different?

[Chilli-head]

Did a bit more pruning today, and got the shredder out to deal with the remains. I was thinking that the shredder is one modern appliance I wouldn't be without. The compost heap is now brimming !

[Chilli-head]

The new beginning in my garden this weekend was a jolly big hole, in which I will be "planting" a slab of concrete as the foundation for the wood oven build.

The hole was mostly what was left behind by moving our old tree peony. I don't imagine it will enjoy the experience, but I took as much soil with it as I could without risking hernia, gave it some good stuff and plenty of water to settle the soil. Fingers crossed.

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