Spring Blooms

Well the early May bank holiday is here again, which signifies the start of summer.

Unlike most years, this time around it really feels like summer too. It is supposed to be the hottest early May bank holiday on record today with the temperatures reaching 28+ degrees. I have to say that yesterday measured in at 26 degrees so it has got pretty hot already.

The unseasonal heat has really accelerated the growth of the seedlings in the greenhouse. I now have some eight inch beans and my sun flowers are desperately trying to outgrow their pots.

The tomato plants are already at the point of needing weekly feeding, and the blossom has already mostly gone in readiness for the growing season.

The sun’s rays streak across the garden in early morning and encourage the overnight dew to disappear leaving behind a green but drying landscape. Leaves shroud the previously naked trees and provide an element of cover for the young birds and squirrels to nest and breed.

The onslaught of new growth is filling the gaps between shrubs faster than we can work on them, leaving a lush  border of “wild flowers” as my better half likes to call them. Cow parsley, stinging nettles and sticky bind weed in particular thriving in the warm damp conditions.

But all this freshness in the garden leaves one with a sense of optimism for the summer to come. The efforts required in keeping the garden in check are suddenly rewarded with new blooms and the smell of freshly cut grass that gets into one’s soul and lifts you up.

For a moment, I always question myself at this time of year – “Am I going to have the time and stamina to take on the garden this year?”

But the moment that I step outside and become part of the natural cycle I realise I wouldn’t miss this for the world, and any effort will be rewarded ten-fold in the satisfaction of sitting down amongst nature and gorging on its wonderful sensory spectacular.

Greenhouse Grub

Each year as the newly planted seeds in the greenhouse spring into life and shoot towards the sky, I promise myself that this will be the best year ever for greenhouse grub. I visit the gardening centre with rows of exotic seeds that will produce wonders in the greenhouse and I select a few specimens and plant them in pots.

The winter chaos is replaced with spring organisation and the neat rows of plants and seeds gives the impression that everything is under control.  I look admiringly at the strategically placed seed trays and I imagine that all summer I will visit the greenhouse diligently each morning and sprinkle water or tend to the new shoots that have appeared overnight.

But sadly, a weekend break, an extended work commitment or a week away means one leaves the greenhouse to its own devices, and before you know where you are the beautiful seedlings are spurting upwards or have grown sideways and no longer look quite so organised or manicured. I never know quite when that time will come, but it arrives every year with a sense of disappointment that the greenhouse no longer feels perfect and the battle changes to one of keeping everything alive when the mercury rises.

This year to combat this feeling I have decided to reduce the number of things I am growing to a more sensible level in order to have the time to look after them better.

Gone are the aubergines that sprouted, leafed and then provided the smallest fruit one can imagine, only to be eaten by a rogue snail that managed to penetrate the greenhouse security.

Gone are the pots of excessive cabbage that I never got around to planting out but still quite liked the look of until they wilted in their overcrowded seed tray.

Instead I am focusing on the things that have done well in the past.

When we sited our greenhouse we chose a spot that was close to the house but yet far enough away to get the sun for most of the day. Sadly, greenhouses need the early morning sun and the evening heat less so. The exact opposite of our site. We had only been in the house a few weeks when we bought the greenhouse and I hadn’t really appreciated exactly where the sun rose and the shade that the surrounding trees would afford. A classic case of haste undermining sense.

Being careful to only water the greenhouse plants in the morning, is really important if we want to avoid powdery mildew and other such greenhouse curses. But this discipline is hard to stick to when time in the morning is short and the evening light lingers longer to let you water the garden.

So, tomatoes and cucumbers it is then. Tomatoes for my sanity, (the greenhouse doesn’t work without tomatoes), and cucumbers for my young great niece who devours them with the spirit of youth. Writing the words, great niece, does rather make you feel old I have to say.

A couple of strawberry plants for a daily reward, two chilli pots to provide the architectural colour and a whole stack of flowers to fill the garden and keep the greenhouse looking bright and summery.  We have majored on nasturtiums, as they love the sun and are relatively easy to grow annuals.

Using the greenhouse to bring things on early, ahead of planting them out, and rescue anything that has been attacked by wildlife but yet is still salvageable with a bit of love and attention, somehow seems more sensible.

Better Than Potholes

My current job dictates that I spend rather a lot of time in my car. It is mostly the same commute but we have clients in many places and therefore this is interspersed with random visits to distant places. In adding many miles to the milometer on my car I have become very familiar with the state of the roads and motorways.

There can be no doubt, the government are no longer spending anything like the right amount of money necessary on road maintenance. At first you notice the odd pothole, or the fractured nature of the odd road surface. But now the potholes have crept onto the motorways and the road surfaces have become appalling. How can they get away with this and yet it goes under the radar?

No one mentioned the state of the roads in the recent local elections. No one is demanding action and never have I seen the Transport Minister being held to task by the media.

And yet, if we let this carry on, the roads will crumble and the huge cost that this will require will be borne by every car owner, every cyclist and every lorry driver in having to repair the punctures and wheel alignments that will keep happening as you hit the imperfections in the road.

We pay a growing amount of road tax, and the tax on fuel is as high as anywhere in the world  – where is the money going?

The motorways have more and more clever ways to catch people speeding, the signage grows ever more intrusive, and road markings increase, and yet the basic state of the road surface is deteriorating fast.

I travel abroad quite a lot and I can honestly say that the British roads are fast becoming some of the worst in Europe if not beyond.

How about we all withhold our road tax?  Or we sue the local councils for the dangerous nature of the roads.

I sound like a revolutionary, but really we can’t just live with it. There will be no point in having driverless vehicles if they keep falling into potholes. Filling a hole with a load of tarmac and turning the roads into a patchwork quilt of substandard workmanship is not the answer, but seems to be the norm.

A few years ago, we made a mistake. Someone approached us and volunteered to resurface our drive using the latest in road surface technology for a modest fee. They drove a large resurfacing vehicle down the drive and it spread stones and tarmac on top of the existing surface. This is what they do on the public roads.

Well it was rubbish. It lasted a year before the first holes appeared and four years later it has almost disappeared completely leaving the previous surface behind. A complete waste of money. Not something to repeat and yet it is being repeated continually across the land by contractors everywhere.

Did Someone Say Bedding?

The birds are starting to sing a little less and search for something to line their nests. As the sun starts to kill off the moss that has covered the walls and lawns this becomes good material for bedding. Most of the birds are using it, and I am sure it does a fine job of keeping their eggs warm and snug during the chilly evenings.

We have yet to see the real wave of young ones hatching. The seed containers are adorned with adult birds stocking up their reserves for when the young ones start to feed.  We have to maintain the windows stickers that remind the young ones that there is glass in their path, before they unwittingly crash into the windows.

My better half has decided that we won’t clean the outside windows as often for the next few months this year to help avoid so many collisions. There is a time in a few weeks where we can hear daily bangs on the windows which signals another short lived bird life.

Our pond now has a resident moorhen. The nest can be seen clearly with a single large, speckled egg being watched by the proud parent. It looks far too big for a moorhen, but I believe it is the right egg.

Surrounding Sheep

Similarly to last year we are now surrounded on all sides by sheep. Not just in the fields but right up to our fences.

They come here to feed on the lush grass and save the neighbours from having to cut their fields. It is lovely to hear the lambs calling to their parents and watch them learning to walk and run. They are a bit ungainly but they quickly fatten up.

I look forward to the ticks they bring being on the cats but for now they make a really pleasant spring day sound more chilled than ever.

Wildlife Settles In

A week or two ago, the cats brought us another present. A live shrew. Shrews are lovely little things, that actually taste unpleasant to cats and therefore they don’t eat them. But they will play with them given the chance and in this case they decided that this was best achieved inside the house.

My better half tried to save it but it disappeared into the utility room and hid. The problem with such little creatures is you can literally never see them again, but they can live in your house for ages.

Sometimes they can make their home in the undersides of furniture, sometimes they can nestle in the holes on the backs of white goods. But finding them is impossible, even the cats can’t do so.

That is until one day they die.

When they die, they slowly wither and dry out. Usually this is the time that you become aware of where they are, because of the unmistakable smell. It doesn’t last long before they mummify, but there is a window of opportunity when you have a chance of finding them. Otherwise, a surprise awaits you when you refurbish a room and replace a broken appliance. It doesn’t happen often but it is happening now, and we haven’t found the offending creature yet.

Dublin Days

Last weekend we went to Dublin for the first time.

It is a wonderful city with lots of history and things to see. We only had a couple of days but we walked our legs off and managed to taste the odd pint of Guinness or six.

We also went and listened to some music in one of the city pubs. On Sunday afternoon everyone congregates and they have a stream of local talent that sing songs and play their guitars.

We were lucky enough to see the sun for the whole time we were there so we probably got a strange view of the place, but we can highly recommend it to anyone who wants a weekend away.

This group seem to own half of the new buildings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2puvI4IfG0

Listening to the radio a week or two ago, I heard a collection of celebrities launching their latest initiatives. Marathon runners, book writers, song makers and chefs all engaged together.

In coming together they were demonstrating the spirit of optimism in keeping with the season.

They played the song below. They all raved about it. It is a quirky tune, that is a bit gimmicky but the words do actually make a lot of sense.  In a sea of sensory noise just occasionally it is good to reflect in such a way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ7AzBIJoI

Have a great week bank holiday Monday!

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