A good day to start a gardening blog. In fact it really couldn’t be better. The wind has dropped and there is actually some sun which is having a cheering effect on a large patch of the woodland crocus tommasinianus which have kindly self seeded in the grass, next door to the hazel by the front gate. They have taken their time to get going, pheasant and the weather both determined to reek havoc on their slender stalks, but when they do open up they are a joy to behold, one of the first flashes of colour after winter.
Every new shoot is greeted by me with an inward ‘yeah, hooray’. Looking round today, I had completely forgotten I had planted a ribbon of scented narcissus on a shallow bank, near a deeply uninteresting leylandii hedge - yet there they are, pushing up at a heady rate - a new point of interest, and a reward for the bulb planting session that nearly got the better of me.
Although I have had a couple of hours here and there with a trowel and the secateurs, I haven’t really got going. I am still mostly a window gardener, pressing my nose to the glass and taking notes. The forecast for the rest of the week is dismal followed by more dismal, and I am not one of those gardeners who think the whole event should be punishment.