Wow.. from being the dreariest and wettest winter ever since records began, it (the weather) has somersaulted into being sunny and quite warm, in fact, Dear Readers, Spring has sprung.
From beyond the grave Constance gave her a present that she 'receives' every year, I know that sounds very strange or weird but the present was a huge amount of mixed Narcissi bulbs which her mother ordered for her just before she died. They arrived the week after she buried her mother
They and the 'nameless' ones that she bought last year from Poundland, (don't turn your noses up for the wind will change and you'll stay like that), are coming into bloom and there are two big vases full of them. Their perfume is beautiful.
The fruit trees are waking up, some faster than others. One mad young lady, aka a Seneca Plum, is completely covered in white blossom, her slightly more sober sister has a few but she, daft girl, still has all her leaves on from last year! So neither of them could be described as 'normal'!
Miss Victoria Plum, who resides on the other side of the garden, is still fast asleep, she shares an area with five other fruit trees, Yellow Gage, Morello Cherry and three Stella Cherries.
They all had a very hard summer prune last year, summer pruning gives different results to a winter prune.
Bob Flowerdew wrote an excellent book on the art of Pruning, it is called..
BOB'S BASICS
PRUNING, TRAINING & TIDYING.
An excellent book to have as it covers all types of
fruit and bushes as well as trees.
She received a call in the middle of last week, it caused her to smile and to 'lick her chops'! A friend's sister had arrived in London and brought a package. She collected it on Saturday and put it immediately into the fridge.
Yesterday was an 'all day' day at the garden, kind Andrew delivered the eight huge bags of Country Natural Horse Manure (very heavy bags).
A couple have been used on the two new beds she made last autumn, the rest will be used as mulch around the fruit bushes and trees and on the asparagus bed.
A tiring day, with a huge amount of work done, she admits she is not as strong as she was, those three years of not doing as much physical work as she used to do has left her weaker, the bags were dragged but a 70 litre bag IS very heavy however fit you are!
So she left earlier than usual, but not before she had done a walk about doing a salad and vegetable pick of Chard, Chives, Land Cress, Marjoram, Mizuna, Oregano, Rocket, Sorrel. A few leaves of each gave her a good sized bag.
One watering can was sprayed over the Chard plants that she had transplanted and a row of Onion sets that she had put down the edge of the enlarged Garlic bed.
Tools wiped, shed locked up, time to walk to the bus, oh, lookie lookie.. she missed them when she walked past earlier, plot number two has a new owner, a passionate gardener who knows her stuff. She and her husband took over the neglected plot last summer and have worked very hard on it.
They did a huge amount of pruning on the vastly over grown fruit trees and they have rewarded their new owners by literally covering themselves in glorious pure white blossom!
The whole area, where the allotments are, used to be a giant Damson orchard. Some of the plots still have a few of these very, very old trees. But there have never been any blossom on these trees in the thirteen years that she has walked past this plot.
The bus came on time (a rare occurrence), so she reached home in just over an hour. BumpBump went old Wicker as he came down the steps, key in lock, her whistle, how nice, my mum is home.
She went to scrub her hands with hot soap and water and to change out of gardening clothes, we went into YumYum HQ, packet taken out of chilly white larder, garden leaves were washed.
Standing on top of chilly white larder allows me a birds eye view of what is happening "and what is that?", I asked her by jumping onto her shoulder.
"Gravadlax", she replied.. sent to us by that very nice Swedish woman who loves you so much! Ah, yes, she was a friend of a friend who stayed with us three years ago.
Her husband is a chef and she sent us a side of his Gravadlax and a pot of Dill Sauce, that was what she went to collect on Saturday, supper was very tasty.
Now it is get-up time, things to do, places to go, no garden today, she has to return an item to Homebase on Warwick Road, there will be more about this store in another post and she is meeting Carol in Notting Hill Gate at three of the afternoon clock.
Time to break that norty fast.. boiled eggs.. yum!
FlapFlap.. have a happy day and be sure to drink some of that Black stuff if you can, for 'tis it not St.Patrick's Day and there will be many barrels of Irish Stout around and about.
Guinness is the name of this excellent beverage and to be sure, I hope 'the' Regiment give her a glass of that today instead of the stuff from Jerez, aka Sherry!
Huh, you'll have to be awake if you are wanting to know what I am talking about.
GeeGee Parrot.
March 17th, 2014.
From beyond the grave Constance gave her a present that she 'receives' every year, I know that sounds very strange or weird but the present was a huge amount of mixed Narcissi bulbs which her mother ordered for her just before she died. They arrived the week after she buried her mother
They and the 'nameless' ones that she bought last year from Poundland, (don't turn your noses up for the wind will change and you'll stay like that), are coming into bloom and there are two big vases full of them. Their perfume is beautiful.
The fruit trees are waking up, some faster than others. One mad young lady, aka a Seneca Plum, is completely covered in white blossom, her slightly more sober sister has a few but she, daft girl, still has all her leaves on from last year! So neither of them could be described as 'normal'!
Miss Victoria Plum, who resides on the other side of the garden, is still fast asleep, she shares an area with five other fruit trees, Yellow Gage, Morello Cherry and three Stella Cherries.
They all had a very hard summer prune last year, summer pruning gives different results to a winter prune.
Bob Flowerdew wrote an excellent book on the art of Pruning, it is called..
BOB'S BASICS
PRUNING, TRAINING & TIDYING.
An excellent book to have as it covers all types of
fruit and bushes as well as trees.
She received a call in the middle of last week, it caused her to smile and to 'lick her chops'! A friend's sister had arrived in London and brought a package. She collected it on Saturday and put it immediately into the fridge.
Yesterday was an 'all day' day at the garden, kind Andrew delivered the eight huge bags of Country Natural Horse Manure (very heavy bags).
A couple have been used on the two new beds she made last autumn, the rest will be used as mulch around the fruit bushes and trees and on the asparagus bed.
A tiring day, with a huge amount of work done, she admits she is not as strong as she was, those three years of not doing as much physical work as she used to do has left her weaker, the bags were dragged but a 70 litre bag IS very heavy however fit you are!
So she left earlier than usual, but not before she had done a walk about doing a salad and vegetable pick of Chard, Chives, Land Cress, Marjoram, Mizuna, Oregano, Rocket, Sorrel. A few leaves of each gave her a good sized bag.
One watering can was sprayed over the Chard plants that she had transplanted and a row of Onion sets that she had put down the edge of the enlarged Garlic bed.
Tools wiped, shed locked up, time to walk to the bus, oh, lookie lookie.. she missed them when she walked past earlier, plot number two has a new owner, a passionate gardener who knows her stuff. She and her husband took over the neglected plot last summer and have worked very hard on it.
They did a huge amount of pruning on the vastly over grown fruit trees and they have rewarded their new owners by literally covering themselves in glorious pure white blossom!
The whole area, where the allotments are, used to be a giant Damson orchard. Some of the plots still have a few of these very, very old trees. But there have never been any blossom on these trees in the thirteen years that she has walked past this plot.
The bus came on time (a rare occurrence), so she reached home in just over an hour. BumpBump went old Wicker as he came down the steps, key in lock, her whistle, how nice, my mum is home.
She went to scrub her hands with hot soap and water and to change out of gardening clothes, we went into YumYum HQ, packet taken out of chilly white larder, garden leaves were washed.
Standing on top of chilly white larder allows me a birds eye view of what is happening "and what is that?", I asked her by jumping onto her shoulder.
"Gravadlax", she replied.. sent to us by that very nice Swedish woman who loves you so much! Ah, yes, she was a friend of a friend who stayed with us three years ago.
Her husband is a chef and she sent us a side of his Gravadlax and a pot of Dill Sauce, that was what she went to collect on Saturday, supper was very tasty.
Now it is get-up time, things to do, places to go, no garden today, she has to return an item to Homebase on Warwick Road, there will be more about this store in another post and she is meeting Carol in Notting Hill Gate at three of the afternoon clock.
Time to break that norty fast.. boiled eggs.. yum!
FlapFlap.. have a happy day and be sure to drink some of that Black stuff if you can, for 'tis it not St.Patrick's Day and there will be many barrels of Irish Stout around and about.
Guinness is the name of this excellent beverage and to be sure, I hope 'the' Regiment give her a glass of that today instead of the stuff from Jerez, aka Sherry!
Huh, you'll have to be awake if you are wanting to know what I am talking about.
GeeGee Parrot.
March 17th, 2014.
We are still having late freezes in Dallas. One recently ruined the blooms on 2 of the earliest harbingers of our spring: flowering quince (deep coral) and decorative pear trees (like popcorn). Loved your description of spring breaking out after the long cold season. Bravo to the couple who took over that neglected plot. Rejoice in the little things!
ReplyDeleteBon jour Madame Darcy.
ReplyDeleteHow nice to hear from you. Yes, the weather in the USA is dire this year, two Dear Readers up in Illinois still have several feet of snow.. gulp! We had that last year and she is not risking anything very tender out there yet. However, the 5 year old Peonies are above her knees and looking wonderful. Seeing the restored Damson trees (bravo indeed to the young couple) has made her want a couple & she was given a voucher for Christmas which will just cover the cost.
What news of 'The French House'? Please email her.. best to you both, GeeGee.