I’ve done a volte-face on the rosehip tea idea. Having inspected the roses, I could see more flowers about to blossom and the rosehips that there were seemed too small to bother with. So, I think the better thing to do is to encourage more flowers, since my Ruby Anniversary wants to keep flowering whatever the weather.
Thus, out I went with the secateurs, pleased that even at past four o’clock it was still proper daylight!
I was about to put the prunings in the compost bin when it occurred to me that there might be a better use for them. There were also little piles of twigs around the garden, blown down from next door’s trees in the recent high winds, which together with the prunings would make the basis for another hugel bed.
The compost bin is actually full of twigs and other woody matter which seems to be taking an age to decompose. Of course, in a hugel bed they will also take an age to decompose but at least I won’t have to keep turning them. I do love the compost heap and am not about to get rid of it in favour of my kitchen scraps being used as mulch but I would rather have the satisfaction of a bin that produces results. And on that note, this is the first winter where the contents have noticeably reduced in size☺️.
Growing out of chaos 
Your hugel bed sounds like a great idea! 🙂
Thank you! I am hoping that they will improve productivity, though I realise water (lack of it) is another reason why stuff struggles in my garden.
Lovely post Helen thank you for sharing as with moving i had to start a new compost bin off so mind is nearly full so i see how long it takes to reduce down
Hopefully with the warmer weather it won’t take too long!