Last Sunday was Palm Sunday, the start of the Easter holidays and a beautiful sunny day; and yet the churches, garden centres and parks remained strangely empty. Things seem so surreal at the moment and we are all missing family and friends. Thank goodness we have Face Time!
There was a worrying report on the BBC News website last week about the plight of garden centres and nurseries during the current pandemic, and the immense amount of wastage that has been necessitated by lockdown. The Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) has started a campaign to increase awareness of the huge financial pressures that growers are currently facing and, recognising that the public need their gardens more than ever at the moment, have launched the "Plants Near Me" webpage at plantsnearme.hta.org.uk which enables consumers to find local suppliers that offer home delivery.
Despite our movements having been restricted, time seems to have been passing remarkably quickly and the children and garden are keeping me very busy. Last week also presented a small degree of excitement as, after being on a waiting list for about a year and a half, we finally acquired an allotment! This couldn't have come at a better time and I hope we will be able to continue using it over the coming months. We spent a few hours digging over our plot during the weekend and have already planted some broad beans and strawberries. Adding this to the potatoes and garlic we have planted at home, and the corn, peppers, tomatoes and broccoli we have started in pots, we will hopefully have a good range of produce later in the year.
Elsewhere in the garden I have been playing my never-ending game of moving plants around as I try to clear areas and "organise". I know its getting late to be playing this game but I am trying not to rush too much for fear that I will have to repeat the process next year.
The front border is also finally starting to show some real improvement, as the following "before and after" snapshots illustrate. I still have work to do but hopefully I will soon be in a position to sow my wildflower seeds. I hope they grow!
The birds and insects are enjoying the sunny weather and there appears to be a large increase in peacock butterflies in our garden this year. Unfortunately, a colony of bees or wasps (I have not yet been able to see them clearly enough to identify them!) seem to have taken up residence in the thatched roof and need to be dealt with.
Daisies, forget-me-nots and celandines are also covering our lawn and borders and, though I know many view them as weeds, I cannot bring myself to dispose of them as they look so pretty! Daisies in particular are flowers that seem synonymous with childhood and innocence (surely everyone has made daisy chains as a child and picked them in bunches for their mother?). However, they are deceptively complex, with each flower head being composed of a large number of white and yellow "florets", i.e. each white "petal" is actually an individual flower.
The Naturalist and Romantic poet John Clare described this unassuming little flower beautifully in his poem of the same name (excerpt below):
The daisy is a happy flower,
And comes at early Spring,
And brings with it the sunny hour
When bees are on the wing.
It brings with it the butterfly,
And early bumble-bee;
With the polyanthus' golden eye,
And blooming apple-tree.
I have a real fondness for the poems of John Clare. He was a true nature lover and many of his poems reflect his connection to (and appreciation of) all things natural and his despair at the progressive destruction of the countryside. He suffered from bouts of depression and was committed to a mental asylum in 1837. In 1841 he left the asylum in Essex and walked approximately 80 miles back to his home in Northamptonshire. Sadly, he returned to an asylum and resided here until his death in 1864. It was here that he wrote one of his most famous (and poignant) works, "I Am", which illustrates his state of mind in an incredibly moving way. I have included this poem at the end of my post for anyone who is interested.
In contrast to the daisy, the tulip seems a much more regal plant and I have been pleased to see a good quantity of them in our garden again this year. I bought and planted three bags of mixed tulip bulbs a couple of years ago and they flowered beautifully the first year. I naively thought that their number would continue to increase year on year; however, this was not the case and only one or two appeared last year. I have since learned that tulips are very fussy plants (they like dry hot Summers and good drainage) and many gardeners view them as annuals.
We are fortunate that the weather has been good, but it is still not always easy to entice the children out in to the garden! I have included another small selection of ideas along these lines which I hope will be useful:
1. Make Easter bonnets for the family. This is a nice little Easter themed activity that can be adapted to make use of any craft items that you already have in stock. An old hat could be decorated with paper (or real) flowers, ribbon, feathers, silver foil...even old toys! If no hats are available, one could be improvised from a section of cardboard, or a pair of simple bunny ears may suffice. If the weather is fine, this activity could be taken outside into the garden and the bonnets could be substituted for daisy chains.
2. Have a sunflower growing competition. This activity is of course dependant on the availability of the appropriate seeds, though could also be applied to any other seeds that are to hand. The wonderful thing about sunflowers is that they can grow so BIG and look so impressive to a small child. Sunflowers are also multifunctional as they make a great food source of insects and birds (if left to go to seed).
3. Make a bug house. A habitat for solitary bees, woodlice, ants and many other of our garden wildlife, can be made out of a selection of garden waste and odds and ends. Examples of things you could use are:
Dried grass and leaves
Sections of hollow bamboo or dead and dried stalks from last year's perennials
Old logs and pieces of bark
Sticks
Sections of wood or old wooden pallets if you have any!
Stones and bricks
Moss
Pine cones
Soil and sand
On a stable surface, arrange the bricks and wood/pallets into a frame and then fill the gaps with the other material you have collected. By varying the material you use, you will increase the range of wildlife you attract. Woodlice and spiders like old wood and bark for example, whilst the bamboo canes could make a cosy home for solitary bees. The site you choose will also have some relevance as damp conditions will be favourable to woodlice and slugs, whilst bees prefer a more sunny position. If you want to be extra kind, you could plant some flowers in close proximity as an extra food source.
4. Cloudspotting. If you don't have a garden, why not try a bit of simple cloud spotting out of a window? I find The Cloudspotter's Guide by Gavin Pretor-Pinney is a good reference that I dip into from time to time!
5. Bird Bingo. This is another game that can be played out of a window on a rainy day. Each child is presented with a card displaying five or six common garden birds (with a different selection of birds on each card) and the child who spots and crosses off all of their birds first is the winner! The basic format of this game could be varied enormously of course depending on who is playing and where. For example, cards could be prepared to spot things which are commonly seen on a family walk.
Have a wonderful Easter everyone!
I Am by John Clare
I am - yet what I am none cares or knows;
My friends forsake me like a memory lost:
I am the self-consumer of my woes-
They rise and vanish in oblivious host,
Like shadows in love's frenzied stifled throes
And yet I am, and live - like vapours tossed
Into the nothingness of scorn and noise,
Into the living sea of waking dreams,
Where there is neither sense of life or joys,
But the vast shipwreck of my life's esteems;
Even the dearest that I loved the best
Are strange - nay, rather, stranger than the rest.
I long for scenes where man hath never trod
A place where woman never smiled or wept
There to abide with my creator, God,
And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept,
Untroubling and untroubled where I lie
The grass below - above the vaulted sky.
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