new year in the garden

It's resolution o'clock. I need to decide what, if anything, I need to resolve for 2016. As I speak, the winter clematis is in bud at the same time as the grapes are finally about ripe (what.). My daffodils are in full bud - not quite out yet, but it won't be long. The passion vine is showing no sign of wither and the spring clematis is sprouting. Last year's marigolds are still in flower. It feels like October has run straight into March without a pause for frost (there was one night of light frost and another which might have a had a breath, it was hard to tell) or freeze. I'm still turfing slugs out of the verandah. Nothing is sleeping, everything is sprouting.

This is a problem, because like a typical English gardener* I retreated to my sofablankets about a month ago. There will be weeding to do, among other things (hopefully not too many of them involving things rotting in their pots).  So I still have that stop-point (even if the garden doesn't) and I still needs to re-start myself, which is of course what the resolutions are for; the rocket up the backside of 2016.

Let's light a fuse:

1. Resolve the conflict between baking and gardening
   Baking is great. Home made bread is the best. But during the rests I can't get my hands dirty gardening. So when do I garden? A plan is needed.  
2. Pay myself a gardening "wage"
   An hourly rate is one of the best motivators I know, and it turns  money you're spending on the garden into money you've earned to spend in the garden. Let's see how it goes. 
3. Concentrate properly on colour
   I want a theme for the year. It's going to be colour. Probably bright but we'll see how it goes, and what colours we end up enjoying.
4. Use up seeds rather than buy any new
   I have too many seeds, but there are always good seeds. Beautiful seeds. But I must resist! All those seeds sadly awaiting their moment must have it this year.
5. Cut back the trees
   The trees are on my neighbouring properties, so this will involve more than just getting the loppers out (or even hiring a chainsaw). But let's move on this.
6. Improve/repair the patio
   My patio aesthetic was probably set by a certain genre of childhood fantasy; Moondial, The Secret Garden, Labyrinth. Patios should be cracked, algae-streaked, mossy and overgrown, in my mind. That's lovely, but possibly this is the year I should embrace the pressure washer.
7. Have more fun in the garden
   We had a very low party score in 2015, with the garden being more of a brief excursion space to admire new flowers, smoke or search for dinosaurs (depending on age and inclination) than the outside sitting room it's meant to be. Partly this was the weather, but also partly it was me not planning in enough gardenish fun. Can we fix that?

I also was going to do something about planning, but actually no time. Let's just get stuck in.

*Not you, obviously.