hay success

The excitement of the weekend has subsided and it is time to restore order and harmony to sustainable garden.

What better way than to show off these beautiful overwintering pansies?

Bought cheaply as small plants in late summer and planted out when the summer cherry tomatoes have finished, these pansies have been flowering throughout the winter months. They require no attention whatsoever - the rain seems enough.

Other pansies (in hanging baskets) have needed a spell of r&r in the greenhouse to get them back on their feet. This is because there is a greater depth of compost in the pictured 'hay baskets' than in traditional hanging baskets, in which the compost can become dry and roots exposed to greater variation in temperature.

The baskets are favourite hiding places for coal tits buried sunflower seeds They love to squirrel these away to tide them over lean times. Wrens too love to mouse about among the stems and flowers.