Isilme checks in with her early spring report … she and Beloved are busy on outside ventures right now …
“Meanwhile, due to our lack of time, we pay a gardener to come in once a fortnight. Basically he’s digging up the beds ready to take the flowers / crops (we currently have beans germinating in the dining room). And he mows the lawn. I don’t think it’s ever looked as good as it does now!
The apple tree* is also nicely pruned. And the blueberry bushes that we thought were dead, are actually alive. At least, one of them is. And the branches we cut off the blackcurrant last year and stuck into the ground along the back wall are all growing!! Wondrous. Blackcurrants are our favourite.
I’m a bit worried about the bay tree though. I didn’t do enough research (or any, really) when I put it in the ground. It had been in a pot forever. When I say ‘pot’ it was actually an old paint pot….. Anyway, it was looking very poorly, so I thought we should perhaps put it in the ground for a while. It shot up.
And now I find it can grow to around 40ft and that definitely is not on! So we are going to get the gardener to hoik it up and pot it again. We might have to pay for a huge pot, but at least it won’t compromise the garden wall or interrupt the light to the windows.
So, we’re germinating beans at the moment: butterbeans (which are really Greek gigante beans), runner beans and French beans (haricot). We seriously need to start thinking about tomatoes now.
This all sounds as if I do all the garden work. In reality it is Beloved who does most of it. I just point out where to plant things, and then gather them at harvest time. It’s easy really 😁
Our tulips are almost over now. We planted a row of them so that in the spring they would provide some bright, joyful colour in the front garden (it’s only small). Sadly, they all turned out to be white or a sort of insipid yellow with a peachy coloured blush. The mini ones were red/pink but only about 4 inches tall in total, so the flower was almost unnoticed amongst the fallen leaves of the red robin bush (I’m not sure its real name….) I was most disappointed.
Never mind, the grape hyacinths are out in force, as are the bluebells. And the saxifrage looks lovely too. In fact, all kinds of flowers seem to be prolific and flowing, with one even engulfing our little watering can! I think it’s aubretia, but I can’t remember and I think the label is somewhere under all the flowers, and I don’t like to disturb it to check!
The apple trees are just beginning to blossom. The plums are over now. The blackcurrant is still covered in flowers and the bees are doing an admirable job. But although the new twigs by the back wall are happy and strong, they have no flowers yet. Maybe next year.
The raspberries still look like dead twigs. Worrying. The self-seeded raspberry in one of the pots is going strong and putting out blossoms, so at least we won’t completely lose out.
The wild garlic is still out and about, and flowering profusely. I must do something with it. Bob is suggesting wild garlic salt – I think he just likes the idea of having green salt!! Anyway, I shall look into it. Otherwise, if I don’t use it in salads, sandwiches, etc I can make it into a soup and bottle it.
The purple sprouting broccoli is practically over. Just a few straggly bits that I might be able to use. So we move on to eating the leaves now, at least until the cabbage whites start fluttering around….
Well, that’s my garden at the moment. I’m pleasantly surprised that so much is going on, given the lack of sun until recently. But there’s nothing like a bit of sunshine and warmth to speed things up!