February Small Back Garden Job Stage 2

Air temperatures are up, couple of frost free mornings making a change for the better, at least I can get round to doing one or two outstanding jobs at the back of the house. Well, that's if the rain holds off. It has been raining so the ground is soaked. Not the best morning for gardening but needs must....we're already approaching mid-February!

Now that the new 'no-dig' shrub bed in the back garden is 'prepared', I can get on with revamping a border next to it. Already have a 7 foot Elder, (Sambucus nigra), planted in the existing border, about 4 years old. The soil where its growing is clay so I'm digging it out, (not sure what I'll do with it at present?). For such a small border, surprisingly, there's a couple of wheelbarrows of clay-soil! A clay border is not good for drainage!

Second job is to use a garden fork to aerate the clay surface at the base of the small trench & work it a bit until its more water permeable. I'll then throw in a few branch twigs, collected from around the garden, followed by a layer of home produced organic compost. On top of this I'll add some horticultural grit & home made compost mix, making sure the texture is right for improved drainage. this 'mix' is added to the all the way to top of the trench. 

I finish off by covering the newly dug border using a couple of old empty compost bags. This should keep out the cold rain & possible forecasted snow, as well as keeping nutrients in the border. All being well it'll be ready for planting up in a couple of weeks, once the soil warms up a little with it being under cover.