The practise of kneeling down, taking a sample of soil, running it between your fingers whilst bringing it towards your nose is something that many gardeners, both professional and amateur, enjoy doing.

I'm delighted to announce that those who wish to do this at Rydal can now do so with the full endorsement of its head gardener. Over the past week, we (Jill, myself and Sue) managed to incorporate several tonnes of soil conditioner into the main herbaceous borders. This blend of rotted straw, manure, seaweed and bark not only looks good enough to use in a Nigella Lawson recipe, but also adds structure to cloggy, wet soil and the nutritious properties held within are slowly released as it breaks down.

The dry weather that graced the past week has meant that work normally hindered by the wet has moved at terrific pace and the soil structure so bombarded over the past 6 weeks (a combination of my oversized feet and the mini digger excavating the trenches for the drainage) can finally begin to settle down to a well deserved break, during which time I hope frost will take hold of the largest pieces of earth and break them up.

Almost any garden looks good in a hard frost. First thing when you sleepily open the gate to the garden, glazed morning eyes are met with sharpness, clarity and lines brought out by ice-dusted form. Rydal's strength is its structure and this has been accentuated very beautifully over the past week. The formal box hedging (Buxus sempervirens) decorated with icy edges is always a favourite for photographers and is so characteristic an element in the quintessential English garden.

The box edging at Rydal frames the annual beds in the main lawns in typical Edwardian style. Shadows cast through the day by the foliage leaves areas of frosted lawn that never thaw, adding to the ever-changing patterns created at this time of the year to be found in the garden. I sometimes think it a shame that these very formal geometric patterns will be filled with plants, as the simplicity of the bare soil is attractive in its own right. However, I'm easily swung by images in my mind of late summer evenings when the smells and colours of August are at their most intense.

This coming week is going to be one of questions, I hope, many answers and work in the quiet garden. The Rydal Gardens Committee will be visiting this week to assess progress and discuss the timetable for next year. You could say I'm nervous, not having met the committee since my appointment, but I'm confident in the achievements made in the gardens over what has only been the first 2 months. I can't wait to show off a soil that has received such a face-lift, I shall quietly stand back and wait to see who is the first to take some caringly in their hand, bring it up to their nose