Spring soil

Made a first attempt at the garden this afternoon, raking away all the leaf litter from what I refer to rather hyperbolically as 'the herb bed' (it has a struggling champagne rhubarb, a fennel, some mint in a sunken pot, some chives, and a small winter savoury). Also from what used to be a potato patch but is now an area of spring-flowering shrubs, and the now overgrown rose and tulip bed behind the bit of paving at the bottom of the garden.

Best thing about it all - the magical smell of clean, damp soil waiting for everything to grow through.