Day 22 of the 100 day project
Back to the project. Five days entirely focussed on small girls and dogs took me away from my 100 days but here we are again, home, shattered but happy. We have had fun. While we have been away the garden has been burgeoning all over the place.
The tubs full of tulips have burst into colour in front of the house and the holiday cottage but the beds are also bursting into weeds.
I have come back from Devon with all the signs of another cold. How can that be? I decided to do an hour or so anyway and try to ignore it.
First of all I planted out three white foxgloves which I brought home the other day. They were very cheap and I'm pretty sure it is because they are not going to flower this year but never mind, they will be with me next year.
Next I weeded a small herb bed which we planted up last year for the use of visitors to the holiday cottage. I have loads of herbs in the kitchen garden but the only visitors we have ever had in twelve years who have taken up my invitation to use the herbs were a couple from France who cooked all sorts of interesting things while they were staying, used the kitchen to its full, well equipped extent, and invited us to share some of the food they produced. Perhaps that reflects a very French relationship with food! Last year we made a new herb bed very near the cottage door with thyme, sage, rosemary and pineapple sages. It is filling out very well. I hope the pineapple sages have survived the cold winter. At the moment they look very stick like!
Then I moved into the kitchen garden and finished off the weeding of the herb beds in there. How can this take so long?
All the time I was working I was looking for our swallows. They are normally arriving around now but I wonder if the long cold spring will delay them. They nest in the stone pigsties and last year produced three broods, wheeling and diving over the garden all day long. I love them so much. Spring is properly here when the swallows arrive. But in the meantime the hawthorn hedges have burst into leaf. Surely winter is gone and summer is round the corner.
The tubs full of tulips have burst into colour in front of the house and the holiday cottage but the beds are also bursting into weeds.
I have come back from Devon with all the signs of another cold. How can that be? I decided to do an hour or so anyway and try to ignore it.
First of all I planted out three white foxgloves which I brought home the other day. They were very cheap and I'm pretty sure it is because they are not going to flower this year but never mind, they will be with me next year.
Next I weeded a small herb bed which we planted up last year for the use of visitors to the holiday cottage. I have loads of herbs in the kitchen garden but the only visitors we have ever had in twelve years who have taken up my invitation to use the herbs were a couple from France who cooked all sorts of interesting things while they were staying, used the kitchen to its full, well equipped extent, and invited us to share some of the food they produced. Perhaps that reflects a very French relationship with food! Last year we made a new herb bed very near the cottage door with thyme, sage, rosemary and pineapple sages. It is filling out very well. I hope the pineapple sages have survived the cold winter. At the moment they look very stick like!
Then I moved into the kitchen garden and finished off the weeding of the herb beds in there. How can this take so long?
All the time I was working I was looking for our swallows. They are normally arriving around now but I wonder if the long cold spring will delay them. They nest in the stone pigsties and last year produced three broods, wheeling and diving over the garden all day long. I love them so much. Spring is properly here when the swallows arrive. But in the meantime the hawthorn hedges have burst into leaf. Surely winter is gone and summer is round the corner.
It sounds like your immune system has taken a battering - maybe you hadn't recovered fully from the last cold. If that keeps happening perhaps go and have some blood tests (sorry it's the nurse part of me kicking in) . I love fresh herbs and often pick them from the gardens of any cottages we stay at. That's a lovely thing to do :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Paul. I think you are right about my immune system. Doesnt seem to be working too well right now. Any suggestions about how to boost it very welcome!
DeleteDon't know if you follow Robert MacFarlane ("The Old Ways" author) on Instagram, but his word for today is "Chelidonias" -- apparently, it's Ancient Greek for "a swallow-carrying wind." Perhaps that's what your birds are waiting for. . . ;-)
ReplyDeleteI have read quite a few of his books but haven't seen him on instagram. What a beautiful word and beautiful meaning. I shall wait for a swallow carrying wind!
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