Planning your garden of delights for 2018

Peter Dowdall waxes lyrical about the joys of planning the garden for the year ahead.

Well, the world is beginning to get back to normal once more and we face into the joy of another year with renewed life and opportunity. The magic that happens beneath the soil is already beginning to rumble as the very first of the spring bulbs start to poke their heads up over the ground heralding the beginning of a new gardening year.

We have the opportunity now to see our gardens naked, that is bereft of all foliage and flower and when reduced to these skeletal bones — obvious gaps and omissions stand out like sore thumbs. I don’t mean that everything should be evergreen in the garden, no, far from it, for if that were the case then the garden would offer none of the striking seasonal delights that come with the passing of time.