The "Move Out Method" Is a Great Way to Organize

The perfect Sunday for me would be to start with a bit of bell ringing (still not allowed to do that yet because of this pandemic, but hopefully back fairly soon), then when I get home, grab a cup of tea and then go straight out into the garden and be there for the rest of the day.

January is an interesting time to look for birds in the garden, as days are short and the availability of natural food is limited. This brings more birds into gardens, for whom a reliable source of supplementary food can be a lifeline.

This time of year, it’s easy to succumb to the winter blues—which is especially true if you live somewhere that gets dark early.

Wildlife-friendly gardening is a simple yet impactful way to bring nature closer to home. This isn’t just about having a pretty garden; it’s about helping the environment right on your doorstep. Whether you have a big garden or just a small space, you can make a difference.

After all the fun and festivities of the holidays, your kitchen cabinets are likely due for a major refresh. If you have pots and pans tumbling out every time you open them, chances are, they need some serious organization.

If you’re wondering how to move plants, remember that deciduous trees and shrubs – those that lose their leaves during winter – are dormant now, so this is the best time to uproot them. Any time during autumn and spring when the branches are bare will  minimise the upheaval to them. Evergreens can be moved too, but you are better off waiting until late March for those, when the soil is starting to warm up again.

Le Creuset

If you're one of the many people who use the start of a new year to take on a house-wide clean out, you may be wondering which categories you should think about tackling first.

I have no idea what has caused this ‘flame’ in the garden, but perhaps it really does symbolise the heart of it. I was not aware of the flame while I was working in the garden today, removing and cleaning the bricks from the low retaining wall at the back of one of the bold borders, and it only became evident when I looked at the photos later. Looking at the wider picture, when there was about a third of the wall left to remove and clean, you can see that there is a glass sculpture in the border but, at the time the picture was taken, the sun (and it was a sunny day) was behind me and to my right, so it wasn’t shining through the glass. Curiously, as I perched on my makeshift stool, chipping away at the bricks with my lump hammer and chisel, I found myself thinking of earlier civilisations, chipping away with bones and stones to make their artefacts – so could I perhaps have been joined by ghosts from the distant past, huddled round their fire for warmth…?

One great way to wake up from our collective holiday haze is to get focused on cleaning up and clearing out.

If you’ve been scrolling through your TikTok feed, ooh-ing and ahh-ing over charmingly layered decor styles, you’re not alone.

In terms of a review of the year as a whole, there is not a lot to say, with it being more a case of consolidation than of change, building on subtle changes made the year before, like moving snowdrops to the woodland, thinning the apple trees to introduce more light to the woodland edge border below, and extending the blue & white borders. Even the current project, despite the organised mayhem it has generated, will only bring about a subtle change to the garden. Within the garden as a whole, mixed weather patterns created uncertainty in flowering times but there were negligible losses from the previous cold winter and no problems with waterlogging during the last few rainy and unsettled months.