a very chilly May

Who would believe that this is May? If it weren’t for the apple blossoms, fresh and pink against the drear sky, and buffeted by the nippy winds, we might be in early April. The last of the tulips were picked this week, and the first of the pale starry blue camassias, along with what hellebores, geum, auriculas and foliages the poor cold garden could muster. Still, the lack of activity picking-wise means that we have had extra time to dedicate to planting out new seedlings, and although there is always more - much, much more - to be done, we are feeling very pleased to be as close to on top of things in the garden this year as we’ve ever been. It’s looking pretty organised and ready for the summer frenzy. We’ve even managed to have a few prettily planted pots and tubs scattered about this year, which is a first, and which surely means that we must be on top of things? The little chickens are busily turning grubs and bugs into tiny creamy-white eggs, but are disappointingly not that interested in eating slugs; now that we’ve had some good rain in the garden we’ll be able to water on the nematodes, in the hope that these minute predatory creatures will keep the slug population down for us. Extra vigilance is always needed in the dahlia beds, and along the rows of temptingly luscious sweet peas, which are now putting on some lovely tendrilly growth. This time last year we were about to pick our first sweet pea stems. Brrr.