Hello everyone! Welcome to new subscribers - I hope you enjoy being with us. Thank you to everyone for your kind good wishes last week. The dreaded cold has receded, I have a lingering cough, but am pretty much feeling back to normal. So that’s good. Also we are now two weeks in to the great en-suite refurbishment. After last week’s horror stories I can report that this week has been relatively smooth. All the wall tiles are on and grouted, except for the window reveal. Next week should be plumbing of sink, loo and shower, fitting of cabinets, flooring, quick paint of ceiling. Hopefully four days will be enough to get all that done. 🤞
Spring is now most definitely with us in the northern hemisphere. There’s no getting away from it. This week saw the vernal equinox and brought us the first day of astronomical spring—as opposed to meteorological spring which is on 1st March. I can’t feel spring-like on 1st March, it’s just too soon, and is usually cold or wet or windy, or most likely all three. On the 20th/21st it all feels much more reasonable. It does actually feel like a tipping point in the light/dark balance. Night and day are briefly of equal length, but the year is now waxing and the light is beginning to defeat the dark. The signs of the natural world coming alive are more obvious and more plentiful, the sun is gaining in strength and the days are becoming longer and warmer. Some recognise this time of the year as Ostara—named after the Germanic goddess, Eostre/Ostara, who was traditionally honoured in the month of April with festivals to celebrate fertility and re-birth. It was from Eostre that the Christian celebration of Easter evolved—those canny early Christians quickly caught on to the benefits of plagiarising the old festivals and the old beliefs, so it made perfect sense that Christ’s rising from the dead should be paralleled with the ancient time of recognising renewal, re-birth, and naturally, resurrection. Whatever you believe, or don’t, there’s no denying there’s a feeling of promise around.
Here in east Devon in the south west of England we have had two days of lovely sunshine this week and the temperatures are definitely warmer. The heating is no longer coming on in the daytime (mostly), and there is a bit more colour in the garden. From where I’m sitting in our sitting room window I can see the blue of muscari, the citrus yellow of coronilla and gorse, and the neon orange of a berberis plant that is making its way up a fir tree. Behind this is a viburnum tinus that has been in flower off and on over the winter. There are tight buds on the tulips and the small azaleas are just beginning to burst their papery blooms. In the largest part of the garden the camellia have been flowering since Christmas and are still going strong. I wish I knew the varieties—if anyone reading this is a camellia expert maybe you could identify them from the photographs below.
We also have skimmia japonica blooming now. It doesn’t look like much but it smells heavenly and has been covered in early bees. It’s fantastic for providing nectar for early insects. I must get another one. Speaking of fantastic, one of our neighbours has the most amazing bright lipstick red rhododendron in flower. It really hits you in the eye. Every year we can hardly wait for it to come out.
Next weekend we do that thing that is ‘moving to British Summer time’ when the clocks go forward by one hour. I’m looking forward to longer evenings and buying plants and starting the vegetable garden. I no longer grow my veg from seed, it’s too hit and miss and takes so long to get them to a sturdy enough size to plant out—I don’t have the patience any more. I buy healthy plantlets that are ready to grow on and can go into the ground with the minimum of acclimatisation. And this year I am going to be more circumspect about what we will actually eat, and only grow enough of those things to avoid waste. Potatoes, runner beans, courgettes, onions and tomatoes will be my main crops. I’ve spent many years growing brassica for massive populations of caterpillar, and leafy salads that bolt, bypass the table, and go straight to the compost bin. No more. I’ve also wasted time trying to grow aubergine (we do eat them and love them) but they need a long growing season and it just isn’t worth the amount of nurturing to get three or four fruit. Next weekend I shall be planting seed potatoes. They are always the first veg to go in. They’ve been on the windowsill, chitting, and I plant the early potatoes on Good Friday, every year. It’s a good feeling to be starting the growing season in earnest.
We’re still searching for some help with the garden. A couple of people who advertise themselves as gardeners have been and looked and given a sharp intake of breath. Neither of them wanted to do any more than mow the lawn and cut the hedges. It seems as though the idea of actually getting their hands in the soil is a definite no-no. It’s very frustrating. I’ll let you know how the search continues. If we find someone you will probably hear me cheering—wherever you are in the world.
Do you grow food in your garden? Do you have favourite plants (veg or flowers) that you wouldn’t be without? I’d love to know.
And that’s it for this week. Next weekend is Easter weekend and I may not post—depending on what we’re doing. With a bit of luck we may be able to spend the whole weekend in the new shower, turning the taps on and off, looking in the mirrored cabinet etc.etc. Watch this space, but there will be no nude photos. 🤪
‘Bye. I’ll write soon
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That feeling of anticipation and hope are present even here in the desert, where summer itself is not necessarily something to look forward to. (I say that, but I remain fascinated by each of the seasons here.)
Your camellias are lovely, whatever their identities, and I would also look forward to such a vibrant red rhododendron.!
I have two old, established lemon trees and they are fantastic producers. We don't get through many lemons ourselves, but I have Greek neighbours and they are always delighted when I deliver a bag of fresh lemons to them.