It's that time of year now, when all the plants in the garden down here near the south coast of the UK, are bursting into life.
Last Saturday we finished splitting plants and planting some new ones. We then top dressed the whole of Lyn's front garden, as we have for the last ten or more years. Since then we have had two days of rain and one of sun and soft hail showers.
According to our Lollipop tree (the Malus trimmed into that shape) we are approx three weeks earlier than last year, some of the green buds are just beginning to break. We use the Malus as a good "barometer" for the earliness or lateness of the Spring, after all it's roots are in the ground, and it is soil temperature which starts the plants growing, as well as day length.
Seeds we sowed in late November onwards have grown into plants that need potting up, so the need for space becomes more urgent, but the greenhouse and conservatory are still crammed with the tender plants which won't go out for at least another eight to ten weeks. We have this problem every year, short of Lyn winning the lottery and moving us and the plants to a bigger property, we can't do anything about it.
Malcolm
