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What are you waiting for?
It is sad that the day is overcast but a joy to see the trees along the brook
bursting forth in a white veil of blossom. The plum tree in the garden has
finally decided that it will risk late frosts and has burst open with much
blossom amidst its flourishing leaves. All around the garden bulbs have
coloured the ground so there is a carpet of blue in the dead larch corner but
it is too early for the bluebells to be flowering it seems so the holly corner
is still looking quite drab as it does not even seem to have a daffodil to
cheer it up. Perhaps I should plant some forsythia in there to give it some
much needed colour to fill the dullness until the lilac comes into flower. That
won't be long so the garden will soon be jolly all around and in bloom.
We have a new gate at the side of the driveway which sets the drive off nicely
following the new garage and carport. The old gate will be used my back garden, it is 50 years old but still
quite solid so that will need a strong post knocking in to hold it. Funny how
you can go into raptures about something as silly as a new gate but it just
looks so smart, keeps the wind from whistling up the driveway and stops the
cats or foxes entering our neighbours' garden now. In fact we are all pretty
fox and cat free, not to mention badgers although they all go in our other
neighbour's garden as he is pretty much open all the way round. At present to
get into his garden at the back I have to clamber over a piece of netting fence
strewn across some old slats of wood which is just high enough to keep Hector
in and other creatures out but low enough for me to straddle standing on a
rock.
I have some pebbles to put down next week as the lawn has become so waterlogged
at the back of the garage raised bed just where the holly bed is. It is due to
waters running down from our driveway down the side of the garage and our gated
neighbours raised garden, onto a lower garden then through to the holly bed
where it is the lowest point on the whole road of houses and gardens. It was
once grass but with having to walk on it all winter it has become a mud bath so
basically is a waste of time being grassed. No doubt it will confuse poor
Hector again with all the work that is entailed getting pebbles down properly
so they do not spill forth onto what remains of the lawn or onto the holly bed
too much. There are two fuchsias in that border and they are ancient plants
which have taken to their new bed like they have always been there. Gated
neighbour gave them to me a few years ago when she re-did her garden, that is
where the bluebells came from too and the grape hyacinth plus the gardening
bug!
The woodpecker can be heard echoing his taps around for all to hear as he lives just across the fields in the fast dying woods. They will soon be a pleasure to walk in though as the bluebells will beout to take over from the wild anemones that are currently carpeting the woods and of course the celandine which we walked into our garden on boots and dog paws. I have managed to keep under control under the apple tree because it is quite a wild spreading plant. As it is dull today it has not opened its flowers yet and who can blame it. At least the blossom is there for the few bees that have braved the chilly winds today.
With the winds and rains of Thursday the fog finally went which was also smog so it is good riddance to that. We have sand from the Sahara on the sills and carport which will stay there unless it rains or I clean it off. The sills are not a problem but the carport is! Maybe the window cleaner can do that for me.
The birds a happy to have insects to feed on now after a rather a cool spell that descended just after they had an early load of babies. They are darting around like spirits possessed to gather the food for the ever growing broods. The blackbirds generally have just one baby but the robins amazed me a few years ago with their hatch of ten babies. They trooped down the driveway went between the conservatory and garage then disappeared into the back garden once they’d found their bearings. That must have been a very tired and relieved robin the day they fledged!
Well, it has been raining, the winds have started howling like ones from the sun do. All in all it is not really gardening weather at present but I must move the old gate into the shelter of the carport so that it stays dry for me to paint before it gets hung. Bionic Hobbit told me that the best thing to
do with the gate post would be to concrete it in. Thank you pal for offering to do it! Today is not the day for mixing concrete due to the winds. I gather cement dust is bad for the lungs and it rather blows at will with great ease. It is certainly not a day to go walking in the woods with the winds, the mud and of course the fact that there are still a lot of dead trees to drop branches or just fall over.
