Introducing our correspondent
Until the age of nine I lived in Eccles, Manchester, where my father taught me how to plant broad beans using a dibber, and I picked weigela flowers to put in egg-cups on the kitchen table.
Since then I have lived in North Wales, Chester, Aberdeenshire and Mid Wales. I am now retired, after 30-odd years in computing, and living in Ayrshire near the small town of Cumnock, where I am trying to knock the garden into shape. My husband Brian, an ex-lorry-driver, has bad knees and walks with the aid of two sticks, so the garden is mainly my domain. We have two grown-up children and five grand-children, some of whom like to help in the garden when they come to stay for holidays.
My other main hobby is walking - my only claim to fame is that in 2004, at the age of 56, I walked (alone) from Land’s End to John O’Groats, and subsequently wrote a book about the experience, entitled Keep Right on to the End of the Road, but unfortunately now out of print. Kath Jones
Kath writes:
At the turn of the year I was hoping for some better weather.
There’s not much improvement yet, but I suppose you can’t expect much in January. It’s actually been reasonably mild for the time of year, but we’ve had some snow and frost and plenty of rain. On January 3 we had horrendous gales, with the power off from 7am till 9pm.
We were supposed to be going to Aberdeen that day, with belated Christmas presents for the family. We set out, but after driving for an hour and trying various routes that were all blocked by fallen trees, we were still less than 20 miles from home. At this point we decided it was unwise to try to continue, so we came home and sat in the kitchen with the gas-ring on, and played cards all day. Fortunately we didn’t have any serious damage.
One thing that did get damaged was the plant container in the shape of a swan (see photo). It was a legacy from the previous owner of the house, and had been ailing for some time (being only made from thin plastic), so I’m not really sorry to see it go. Maybe I’ll replace it with something a bit sturdier.
A friend took me to task for expecting broad beans to survive the winter. I always thought you could plant them in the autumn for an early crop – perhaps that’s just down south, in warmer climes. They should really have been covered with fleece. Some of them still look alive anyway, and I’ve started off some more in the polytunnel. I’m also trying some dwarf French beans in there – I’ve probably put those in too early as well.
The trouble is, I’m just itching to get started. There’s not much I can do in the garden apart from a bit of tidying up and spreading compost. The ground is far too wet for digging. I’ll just have to content myself with sorting through my seeds, ready for the warmer weather.
Read more of Kath's blogs by clicking on the related articles link at the top of the page.
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