Letter to the Garden - April 2023

Dear Garden

I appear to have been slipping again in my frequency in writing to you.  I want to say its because there is a lot going on, and there is, but also there are unseemly weather-related pauses.

Seriously? I hear you mutter, (muttering is always a sign of more disappointment than an exclamation can be), seriously?  Well yes, we are still having frosts so that has set back my seed sowing.  Well, again, in truth not really set it back as I try to hang on for as long as I can stand before starting any tender seeds but it is a real test of my desire to get on with sowing.

Anyhoo, when it has not been frosty it has been raining, particularly at weekends which is the only real time I get to do any gardening this time of year.  The lawn has been cut a couple of times but the weeding is neglected.  I am so glad we have a couple of long weekends coming up when I might get more done (is it appropriate to spend the Coronation Day weeding..... asking for a friend....).

It is thankfully the time of year I can at least get an 'after work' wander around the garden.  Most often this includes me using my birdsong identifier app which is just a current joy.  I am learning the songs of the birds most often in my garden now and I now know who my most frequent visitor birds are.  I expected robins, blackbirds etc but Dunnocks and Blackcaps were unexpected.  I also freqently have wrens who I think make a big sound for such a little bird.  There is also the occasional parakeet, which feels rather far north for them to have ventured.  I googled this after writing it and found a 'parakeets in the uk map': they are much further north than here too. 

So where are we garden?  How are we doing?  Its been a bit of a start to the year for me with all sorts of stuff going on that had to be dealt with: there has been good stuff but also not so great stuff but as ever I just have to keep on going.  You, my dear garden, are always there for me, even in the rain and frost.  As I walk around the garden still wondering if some things have made it through this sharply frosted winter, I gain strength with each moment I am with you.  I suddenly have an image of being some sort of garden parasite, sucking the life blood out of you - actually the image is of Bette Midler in Hocus Pocus (either film) sucking the life-energy out of children - is that what I am to you my dear garden?  Do I need you too much??  No, no, I will not accept this analogy, I like to think that we have a symbiotic relationship but then somewhere at the back of my mind I wonder if this is how most parasites feel......

Anyhoo... moving on... it is Spring, you are springing, you are sprung.  There are flowers, there is growth, life (that never really disappears) is returning.  Persephone is flouncing around like she owns the place, pausing at every bud and flower and cooing 'did you miss me'.  The buds, newly emerging into the world for the first time smile politely and as she moves on whisper to each other 'who's that?' and a ripple of shrugging like a indifferent Mexican Wave runs through the garden in her wake.  

I love you Spring, I love you garden, I love you the Spring Garden.  Things will happen, things will get done: one weed at a time.

and seeds sown on Sunday are already germinating - whoop!

Your loving gardener

Take care and be kind.

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