Post Easter

The weather continues to be kind, I think a lot of us would feel even more deprived and despondent if it was low grey cloud and continuous rain. The weather originally was supposed to be cold over the weekend instead it was the opposite, looking at my gardening record book for last year Easter was 25̊, but it was at the end of the month, two weeks later and what we are experiencing right now is unseasonably warm but the sun always helps our spirits. We were having supper in the conservatory on Saturday night and saw our first bats of the year. We have had two bats for years which fly around at night and appear in the early evening, they and the swallows always indicate that summer is just around the corner. Being on the hill we often miss the early and late season frosts, this morning was just such a case, the valley had a serious frost this morning and we were clear, just as well as the haricot beans might have objected.

We put up the wigwams for the mange tout at the weekend. Every year we grow mange tout and peas, this year I am only growing dwarf peas and just the mange tout as climbers. It is lovely when making a salad to be able to pop out and pick some lovely crisp mange tout. I also potted up a trough of basil for the summer, it is almost impossible to grow too much. I use a lot of herbs in my cooking and especially in salads. A delicious green salad is of finely chopped lettuce with finely chopped herbs, mint, basil, oregano, chives, parsley, dill, chervil, lovage, whatever you have just toss it all together with a lemony dressing. Each mouthful will have a different flavour and will complement anything. Herbs are easy to grow and will flourish on a windowsill, most supermarkets sell mint, parsley and coriander in pots, sometimes they also sell thyme all of which are useful to brighten up any dish.

When we moved here the Wollemi Pine was being promoted to protect it as it had recently been discovered that they could grow it from suckers and it was being promoted heavily around the world to ensure its survival. It is an amazing plant and is one of the world's oldest and rarest. Classed as a 'Living Fossil' it dates back to the time of the dinosaurs. Only discovered growing in 1994 in New South Wales in Australia the oldest fossil of the Wollemi has been dated to 200 million years ago. Conservation wise, it is rated as Critically endangered. The Wollemi is a majestic and very attractive conifer with unusual dark green foliage arranged in a spiral formation with silver undersides and grows in a narrow tall formation. We planted ours thirteen years ago and this year it has grown some conifers and looks even more beautiful, if that’s possible.

Our rosemary bushes have been in flower since March and right now are a mass of lovely violet blue flowers, very early and strange seeing rosemary and daffodils in flower at the same time. We have a bed with a cornus midwinter fire surrounded by yellow and red tulips which look magnificent every year and tone in with the cornus stems, this year they are surrounded by self-set blue forget me nots, nature really has an amazing pallet and a good eye for colour. We have a blousy pink cherry tree which has come into flower, we used a couple of stems for our Easter tree, it looked lovely against the perfect blue sky at the weekend, totally over the top but perfect for these strange times. Gardening and nature really are health givers, they nurture our bodies and also our minds, increasingly it was being prescribed to help people with depression and the boom in sales for online nurseries is testament to people turning towards nature at this difficult time. I know people say they don’t have time to garden, but if you read widely around the subject you will find that it can be done with as little as half an hour a day, we just need to plan and include it in our lives as a healthy and rewarding activity for all ages. There is nothing more satisfying than eating something that you have grown and it saves on the gymn membership fees! Easter for us is normally very busy with a full house, all I can do this year is try and share the garden and its progress through the seasons via this blog and the website rather than in person. Take care of yourselves.