It might not look like it judging by the drizzle outside, but Spring has arrived! As usual Nature doesn't keep to anybody else's time-schedule. Some would say right on time, it depends on your perspective. When I walked through the garden yesterday morning there was already a pleasant warmth in the air and a small gang of caterpillars starting to raid the Naturtiums: so I ran back inside to fetch a pair of surgical gloves so I could squash them as I saw the little buggers! I had learned my lesson about using gloves: I accidentally put my dirty fingers in my mouth after squashing a few of the aphids and inevitable ants :P NOT cool!
A very wet Jenn the weekend after a splash in the river on my grandparents' farm and peach trees in bloom
The strawberries are making flowers, my blueberry has a few baby blossoms and I even have my very first very little wild gardenia from the Rothmania capensis. It's a sad, weak little tree - I have no idea where the landscapers got hold of such a poor little specimen, but it's here now and I try to give it what I think it needs - what I really think it needs is a replacement... but now it's made its first little flower for our garden and I don't think I'll get it over my heart to throw it out :( maybe I could send it to my grandparents' farm ;) My grandma's forever nursing sick dogs and one-eyed ducks, old frogs under a carpet and the like :)
SO, out with the Spring "To do" list and my... there's a lot to do in spring. I am so excited about all the new seeds we can sow, the new emerging growth to fertilise and the herbs to divide and spread around the garden!
Other than all these very exciting movements in the garden there are several more that are a dead give-away of Spring activity, so I think I should spend a day in the garden, removing some over-grown ground-covers (and pesky plectranthus!). At least they have pretty flowers to decorate in the meantime, but in some places they are just so overgrown! I think I will also have to find a replacement granadilla that the garden-services killed in the Autumn and then all the seeds: I already have a few sprouting onions, carrots etc. that I planted last month. This time I must just remember to curb myself and not over-sow, I've wasted a lot in the past by either sowing them too close together and then having to pinch a lot out or by forgetting to save some space for successive sowing, so they won't all be ready for harvest at the same time and then I sit with a veggi overload - but it's hard to remain calm and conservative when it's eventually time to sow seeds :)
With all the little things to do now that it's spring I'm starting to wheel-spin around the house: first I have to take photos of all the activity to share with you, then I remember the bamboo rods that I should setup for the beans, then I must write down how much it rained the weekend and I must remember to go get more compost, the hosepipe fixture must still go on the wall, the gooseberry needs to be tied up - all these 100s of things to do today or whenever - but rather sooner!
I've added a picture of the River Bushwillow to show how I can see it hasn't been very cold this winter: It had very dark red/maroon leaves last winter and now has only a few of them. The new growth is already coming out and most of the tree still has the dark green Summer foliage. So we didn't really have a proper winter. I grew up in the area and remember what seemed like weeks of non-stop rain and cold weather. This winter felt like a Mediteranean resort most days. There was hardly more than 3 consecutive days of rain and although some nights really were freezing cold, it wasn't as wet and cold as previous winters. The plants are also clearly showing it.
Ok, I'm off to the nursery to see if I can find a replacement granadilla. And maybe some more seeds! ;)
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