It may have been a slow start this season but Springfield has definitely sprung and is galloping along so quickly, I can’t keep up with it. I still have a broken left foot and this is not helping the situation. I am not fit enough to chase after the garden but thankfully, Doc isn’t working this bank holiday weekend. He was looking forward to a few days off and perhaps the opportunity to enjoy a Saturday as well as a Sunday paper, but he will probably think differently by the time I’ve finished prioritising his list of jobs!
The rhubarb forcer has delivered the goods and a few days ago we tasted the most sublime early (time is relative this year!) rhubarb. The stems were candy pink and fragile and needed no more than a sprinkling of orange zest and a little sugar. I poached it gently for a few minutes and we enjoyed it with local, vanilla ice cream. Simply delicious. We shall force some rhubarb next year but since it puts stress on the plant we will us a different crown.
Today, the sun shone all day and someone turned up the heater. It felt good to feel warmth on my face. The magnolia is a white froth of loveliness and the scent fills the garden. The camelia is also in full bloom and the borders are bursting with perennials. I’m sure I will manage to pot on the tomato plants in the greenhouse and I am hoping the tiny asparagus tips (finally) poking through the soil, will soon be big enough for me to harvest. No injury will stop me making a hollandaise sauce and poached eggs to go with the lightly steamed asparagus.
Last weekend I ventured out (in the cold) for a potter around (Doc allows pottering) and I took the radio with me for my weekly fix of BBC Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time. I was examining a patch of golden and red dogwood and cursed the Lily of the Valley encroaching on its space. No amount of cold, drought, flood, poor soil or absence of light stops it from creeping up on everything. It is such a weed in our garden, a blight on the landscape and one of the few plants I would happily give away. However, there was a lady on GQT who was asking how she could grow it! Apparently, she had tried for 40 years without success. And here we are, trying everything available to kill it! We cannot even claim skill and perseverance. The LOTV was here when we came and will probably still be here when we are long gone.
Gardeners often have plants they cannot control or plants they cannot grow at all, whatever they try. The plant that I would love to grow is aubretia. In our village, several of the cottages have high, beautiful stone walls with purple, lilac or blue aubretia cascading down to the footpath. It may be considered a cliché and suburban but aubretia makes a beautiful statement in springtime. I love it. We also have a stone wall and a rockery but can I grow it? Not at all. It looks good for about 10 minutes and then succumbs. I blame some unidentifiable critters rather than the gardeners in residence. If anyone out there has any foolproof tips, please let me know. Such is the life of a gardener.
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