May Catch Up

I haven’t written anything for this journal for a while as I have completely lost track of time and my To Do List keeps getting longer with little chance of getting smaller.  But just the other day I noticed that the sun had come out and then I realised that it was May.

Since my last report in March, the weather here in Northumberland has been absolutely pants.  We have had gales, rain, sleet, hail and snow – not very conducive to working in the garden.  However, I have been able to get out into the glasshouse and take the bubble wrap down from the ceiling, I gave all the plants in there a sprinkling of pelleted chicken manure and a thorough watering - now everything in there is romping away.

We have also been able to mow the lawns several times.  T wanted a new lawn mower as he found that the ride-on had a habit of turning over when he rode it down the slope to get to the front lawn.  After a lot of research he swapped the MTD ride-on for a 20 inch Hyundai petrol mower, it has four speeds, an electronic start and two cup holders on the handle bar.  Lawn mowing is really his department so I don’t know much about mowers other than here is a picture of it.

In the fruit cage, I picked some rhubarb and made crumble – sorry but no expensive rhubarb forcers in my garden just a large terra cotta pot once broken now glued together with Araldite.  The crumble was delicious.

Still in the fruit cage, I am experimenting with companion planting under the fruit bushes.  Under the blueberries, I have planted Fragaria vesca or wild strawberries, under the currants are chives and under the raspberries Achillea Desert Eve Red.  I shall be interested to see whether there is any difference in pests and diseases.

The bluebells in the wood are, as ever, beautiful. It gives me so much pleasure to sit in the wood on a sunny day with a cup of coffee.  I think it’s lovely to see the sun glinting through the fresh green leaves and to listen to the birds song – its somewhere where I can forget about the stressful things in life.  A beautifully tranquil scene to end this entry.