Hello there for the first blog of 2013 from the Howden Garden Gang!
Developments are proceeding well with Howden House and the houses around the back – bit noisy when you’re trying to work in the tranquillity of the walled garden and there’s a still saw busy at work on the building site! We’ve been kept busy with trying to resurrect the boundary surrounding the wildflowers and herb gardens after the original willow was ripped out last year. We’ve used some windblown branches and coppiced some hazel in the garden to use as well.
We’ve been held back by the snow only on a few occasions and another day we took the opportunity to go for a walk in the snowy sunshine, cutting back overhanging branches along the way. We’ve also been able to see the results of our efforts back in November and December – the bulbs are trying to spring through – even managing to squeeze through a blanket of snow! 
The bulbs we planted with the Green Gym and with the school groups too, are all making their appearances slowly. The pathways of the labyrinth are all starting to appear, so hopefully the labyrinth will be awash with spring colours.
We have a colourful visitor from previous years – a purple crocus, hopefully some of its friends won’t be too long in blooming to keep it company.
We had some good news in that the project got funding to continue! Yeah! A big thank you to West Lothian On the Move and Landfill Trust for their continued and new support of the project. THANK YOU!