I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

This is the amazing 30ft Christmas tree outside Wigan and Leigh Hospice’s front door. It is a fabulous tree covered in 50,000 lights, and is put up each year for the “Light for a Life” appeal. This year alone they have raised over £35,000 – well done!

I have now been blogging for almost a year now, and have really enjoyed reflecting on some of the work that I have been doing. For me, the highlight of the year has been opening the gardens as part of the National Garden Scheme. It was hard work, but well worth it. We are opening again in July 2018. It has been great working with so many volunteers this year. As well as the regular volunteers, I think that there have been 8 groups come in from the council and local businesses. Thank you!

There is much to look forward to in 2018. In a couple of months time I am going to be sowing the new wildflower garden, which is very exciting. There are also going to be some new flower beds planted up, and a couple of others to be refreshed. This, on top of all regular weeding and pruning, should keep me out of trouble.

So enjoy Christmas and the New Year, and I look forward to updating “The Hospice Gardener” when I go back to work in January. Thanks for reading! X