SPRING

We’re heading now to the Vernal or Spring equinox on Saturday 20th March which traditionally signifies the beginning of this wonderful season. On that date day and night length will be equal, with the shift then towards longer hours of daylight which is what gardeners crave.

It is one of the best times in the garden when everything is starting to wake up, buds are swelling on trees and shrubs and herbaceous plants are now starting to grow. I’m in the garden most of the time and I never get tired of walking around inspecting borders and hedgerows to see what has changed in the few short hours since I last had a look. What always amazes me is how things are literally changing before my eyes. As darkness falls one day you see buds about to burst on a section of hedge, the following morning that same area is covered in a green haze and then all of a sudden it’s in full leaf.

Snowdrops have now finished and the foliage will be left to die back naturally in order to feed the bulbs over the coming months. This is the time to lift and divide congested clumps of these bulbs but this year I will refrain. The plan is for a swathe of snowdrops in one area of the garden, this is starting to happen as the plants also self seed. They have looked beautiful this year, maybe next spring I will move some around. Now coming into flower are daffodils in the spring borders alongside many mature hellebores. The hellebores were all planted in the first couple of years after moving in so are now starting to become large plants which also self seed. They are completely hardy although a frost will cause the flowers to droop; however as soon as the air warms up they soon recover.

We have many different varieties of daffodil planted all around the garden and in the orchard so we should be enjoying their cheerful blooms for many weeks to come. I tend to plant most of my tulips in terracotta pots so that they can be grouped together for maximum effect. Last year I decided to experiment and planted some of the bulbs in the orchard after flowering, the leaves are through but it remains to be seen if they will indeed flower again in the grass. Species tulips tend to do quite well here, I often plant them in terracotta pots the first year so that they can be enjoyed up close, but then they are planted into the borders where they can grow and flower undisturbed.

The garden is full of many species of bird at the moment. We appear to have two pairs of Robin, they are reputed to be territorial but the four of them seem to manage to share the garden happily. Goldfinches have been regular visitors to the bird feeders all winter along with Greenfinches, both having visited in great numbers this year. There are always flocks of long tailed tits flitting about along the hedgerow and searching for food in various shrubs, as well as eating the easy pickings from the feeders. Mistle thrushes visit every year to eat the yew berries but a first this year has been seeing them on the lawn pulling up worms. Definitely Mistle thrushes, very different in size to a song thrush so easy to identify. We are also excited to have been visited on a couple of occasions recently by a pair of Mallard ducks who have taken a swim in the pond. We are hoping that the drake is the same bird that we raised from a duckling last summer who has returned to visit with his mate.

I’ve spent the morning in the garden planting out Iris reticulata bulbs from their terracotta pots and have identified plenty of nettles and other weeds that need attention this afternoon – so onward into the garden ………..