The Sap is Rising

This time of year is so wonderful yet intense, isn’t it? The sap is rising, the garden is getting sorted, everything is growing, the birds are nesting, the days, though getting longer, are way too short. I can hardly drag myself in from the garden before dark but then I’m so exhausted in the morning it is hard to drag myself out of bed.

I have a wonderful commission with the wood turning so that has to take priority. When I feel I can allow myself to stop it is straight out to the garden. I can see the vegetable garden as I am wood turning which is both wonderful and can be a constant reminder of what needs to be done. And if the sun is streaming in it is even more tempting to leave the dusty workshop by early afternoon.

The vegetable garden is an oasis of order in my chaotic wildlife garden and I want to keep it so. I know without regular weeding it will soon revert to nature and be harder work for me. So the veg. garden is my priority. I have most of it weeded, where needed it has been given manure and I’ve even managed to plant some of it. I’m not too bothered about the planting – the soil is still cold and the vegetables will soon catch up if planted later once the ground warms up. When I look at my previous years’ planting dates sometimes it has been weeks later yet it always works out fine. I do like a few early potatoes though. The other vegetables which have already been planted are more so I can see where I’m going with the garden and so I don’t have to plant all at once.

Weeding the garden feels like it has taken forever. This is partly as all the Foxglove, Daisy, Self-heal, Feverfew, Forget-me-not, St. John’s Wort, Lemon Balm, Wild Strawberry (and probably a few other I can’t think of as I sit here typing) have to be carefully lifted, with a bit of a root ball if possible, and healed in somewhere in the wildlife garden. As I’m finding places to put them I am delighting in the changes in just one year. Everywhere I look there is new growth busting forth. All my little trees unfurling their leaves for their second year here, the fruit trees (bought last summer through a very generous gift from a beloved friend) are coming into flower – the Damson are blooming already, the Plum not far behind.

There are tadpoles in the pond. I have now confirmed what the rustling I can hear above my head as I am in my workshop turning. Today I saw a Blue Tit with nesting material in its beak, disappear into the roof.

I understand the Swallows are back in the area though I haven’t seen them yet. I wonder how they are going to feel when they find out what has happened to their nest! This is in another shed as sadly I can’t allow them into the workshop as they are so messy, especially the young ones just after fledging and their mess does stain wood rather badly!