Spring is here, the westerlies blow and the race is on in the garden. There are seeds to sow, beds to mulch, trees to feed and weeding, weeding and more weeding, before the blighters get a foothold.
Like most things in my life, I'm kinda a last minute gal, and whilst most gardeners will have their summer seedlings already shooting forth, to allow maximum time to grow during the warmer months, my
seeds and
potatoes are still in the mail. Except for my tomatoes, which I finally sowed today. Unfortunately the problem with this last minute approach was made apparent during my mad dash to the hardware store today, with very slim pickings left for tomato seeds. I think I nabbed the last six packets of unheard of varieties like Thai pink egg, yellow pear, Wapsipinnicon peach, Ponderosa Pink, Burwood prize and Cerise. Only one red tomato out of the lot of them. It will be interesting to see how they fair, all pink, peach and yellow. Next year I will be more organised. For sure. But tonight at least, I can rest on my laurels, confident in the knowledge that we're in for a bumper summer tomato crop. Just as we open the last bottle of passata too.
In other parts of the garden, the garlic is growing like crazy, but
the asparagus is more Mary Celeste than Mary Washington, there's absolutely no sign of it. Lucky the delicious pick again broccoli is living up to its name to make up for the asparagus shortfall.
Along with being a mad rush, it's also a constant battle, this gardening caper. It's me vs weeds, slugs and those pesky black birds, that pull up seedlings, dig holes in the beds and flick mulch all over the paths. It's no wonder they were made into pies. What happened to that culinary trend I wonder? But looking into the lemon tree today, I spied a brand new baby black bird, they seem so harmless with they're little. This little one will no doubt grow up to torment me next spring, probably as I race around the garden in a mad last minute planting frenzy again, having paid no heed to my own advice at all.
