What Cathy Read Next…

Six on Saturday is a weekly meme originally hosted by The Propagator but now in the tender care of Jim at Garden Ruminations.

I definitely chose the most challenging time to start participating given there’s been a week of frost, snow, wind and rain. I hope everyone has kept safe and your gardens were not too battered.

It’s been pretty much impossible to do anything in the garden this week except grab a sledgehammer to break the ice on the pond, walk briskly down to the compost bin with vegetable peelings and make plans for the year ahead. I hope that explains the scarcity of actual plants in this week’s six and the greater focus on projects.

One – The first signs of narcissus, planted in pots because the squirrels just dig them up if I put them in the ground.

Two – Hebe ‘Rosie’ obviously didn’t check the weather forecast before deciding to risk producing a bloom.

Three – There are a few fruits remaining on the Chaenomeles japonica growing against a very ugly wire fence.

Four – Hundreds of foxglove seedlings had made themselves at home in the strawberry bed. (In fact, they’re all over the garden.) In the brief interval when it wasn’t raining or snowing, it was weeded and some young plants grown from runners added to fill gaps. The white flakes are the remains of a layer of whelk shell put down last year to deter slugs from nibbling the fruit. It worked . . . to a degree.

Five – This very boring picture is the starting point for one of my 2026 projects. We had the fence replaced at the end of last year because the old panels were falling apart and there was ivy growing over and through them. All the other shrubs growing in front had to be cut down or removed, some of which were on their last legs anyway. Now I need to get my thinking cap on…

Six – Last year’s main project was a much needed makeover of our large front garden. It involved removing an overgrown hedge largely made up of spirea japonica which had suckered into what we laughingly referred to as the lawn, clearing the whole area, having four raised beds built and new turf laid. This year’s project is to plant a few more evergreen shrubs along the fence and finish filling the raised beds with plants for year round interest. Also to clear the remaining ivy from the front hedge and fill the gaps with new hedging plants.

Do check out the posts of other participants by following the links in the comments section of Jim’s post. If you fancy taking part yourself but don’t know where to start, here’s the participant’s guide.