Is it Spring yet?
The impossible task; deciding when it is spring. Can you tell by how wet your clothes are after a day in the garden? That’s a good starting place.
Spring certainly throws us some challenges for both the garden and gardeners. I find the sometimes (more likely often) very wet days of Spring quite exhilarating. We work hard during the weeks, and also spend a long amount of time curled up in front of our various fires and radiators. We have to dry off all of our work clothes as quickly as possible over the evenings, so our houses smell of warm dirt; our washing machines are going to take an absolute beating at the weekends trying to get all of the mud out (don’t tell our landlords). This is what a wet Spring feels like for a gardener.
Is it Spring yet? Let Zoe know
Our weekly focus was “Is it Spring yet? If it is, let Zoe know.” Gardens tend to experience the initial rush of Spring growth at different times, and this can lead to some properties becoming absolutely filled with weeds, while others are still dormant and quiet. Unfortunately, which garden is full of weeds is quite hard to predict at this time of year
Behold Glenda’s lawn. I mowed it 7 days prior to taking this photo. It looked great, I swear!
Highlights: I found a sack of cocoa husks, the lovely mulch we used to use all the time, and that prompted me to spam call our old supplier, who has advised that they stopped answering my calls because they’re out of the game. But I found them nearby so I’m going to stock up, load up the truck and shower everyone’s gardens with them again. I’d love to hear if you have a local supplier you use, they are really great for springtime mulch. The sack was in my shed, so I managed to get the worst part of a garden all tidied despite the weed explosion, woo!
Lowlights: This is happening a lot along the seaside at the moment- plants are trying very hard to grow out of season and dying back, then budding and dying back. There isn’t a heap that we can do about it. You can see that all of the buds are at the tip of the rose- that indicates that it’s doing its best to push out lots of lush growth- but it’s too cold to sustain. And we haven’t even pruned them yet! So in cases like this it is best to try to not prune too much, as taking all of that energy out of the plant by cutting back the tips will handicap it in the second half of this year. At the same time, that is too many buds for one small spot, the rose will end up looking like an umbrella, so I knocked some of them off with my thumbnail.
What I'm obsessing over this week
Can I just say- I do not understand why everyone wants to grow tomatoes all of the time? Are they your favourite food? Why! Why that one thing! They are quite complex creatures- can we not obsess over something a bit easier? My quiet unspoken belief is that Real Gardeners are obsessed with growing potatoes. I don’t know where it came from, because anyone can grow potatoes. If you want to be a better vegetable gardener, switch it up, grow potatoes. Your success rate will go through the roof.
All in all it’s been quite an emotional week! I wanted to talk about this new book I’m reading, The Light Eaters, by Zoe Schlanger, but that was too emotional for me. I think I am a bit too dry for it, having studied Intentionality at university already. It is a beautiful read, and does open your mind to how plants function. But I feel like a lot of it is a commentary on how badly humans relate to the plant world, and how stuck inside of our existing paradigms we are. But I have to admit, I stopped reading. It can go next to that book about fungi that came out a few years ago and was the same.
Some Good Practical things I do fully endorse, though-
I heard about that book on the Joe Gardener Show. The Joe Gardener Show is one of my favourite podcasts- Joe is so down to earth, thoughtful and excited about gardening. He also does videos and all sorts, so if you’re not into podcasts you can still check out his content. I love him
No interview this week
The two people I had lined up are suspiciously dodging my calls! One is on Jury Duty, so I forgive her. The other one, though.. *shakes fist*
I hope that you have a lovely weekend and you weren’t too soaked this week!
Zoe