Last week, a few warm days meant I was able to spend several hours in the garden. Spring has definitely, thankfully, arrived here in south-west England. As is usual with every season, by the time I have had enough of it, the new season is already on its way. No more frosts to speak of, and, though downpours are expected, the hail storm that we had a couple of days ago was a surprise. The last picture above is my newly planted sweet peas and the white flecks are balls of ice!
Even though this is usually one of the scarcer months of the year for harvesting, we are lucky to still be enjoying a bit of homegrown: leeks in various stages of development, winter salad leaves, chives, rosemary, mint and thyme are all welcome additions in the kitchen. Now I just need to decide what else I want to plant for this year… not too much, I have to keep it manageable for little old me to take care of on my own.
This month is the time when everything in the garden tends to shoot up a metre every time I go inside. If I don’t get rid of the weeds now, it will Day of the Triffids before I know it! It felt so good to work on the garden for longer than a few odd minutes. Leaves are bright and lush and plants are budding. A few specks of colour hide here and there: the primroses, spotted lungwort and a ladybird stopped by for a rest. There’s already been plenty of gardening and games of badminton, wafts of line-dried laundry, too much balancing precariously on ladders for shuttlecocks that the wind has blown over the hedge, and, of course, many cups of tea while sitting watching the squirrels and the birds prepare for the new season. Spring is here!