It’s hard to believe that Easter is upon us. As I sit there is hail in the air, a squalling wind and more than a hint of ice in the temperature. Not to say that there hasn’t been the odd sunny spell – but don’t be fooled, for an hour after putting in an appearance, away she goes behind the dark grey storm clouds again. There’s been illness in the house for the last few weeks, and the start to the working year has been a challenging one (see previous post). As such I don’t feel minded to do the usual Easter activities (baking, prepping the allotment for spring, drinking a glass of chilled rose) and instead am still drawn to the fire and a hot bath.
And yet there are hints that change is coming. The ‘purissima’ tulips are already in bloom, taking me by surprise (last year they did not emerge until the start of April) hastened into action by the warm-ish winter. I’ve picked a vase-full for the Easter weekend, their sheer magnificence and elegance always a welcome addition to the house. In contrast the allotment peonies are barely above ground, very hesitant to break cover, so it’s a story of two halves.
I had hoped to go asparagus hunting in Warwickshire this week but alas it was not to be, so I had to content myself with an early supermarket bunch. These spears are fine, but not a patch on the proper stuff that’s merely hours old, fresh from the farm. So I blanched them and put them into a tart with salmon and dill – not difficult to do but definitely not my everyday cooking style. For pudding, it has to be the traditional Easter chocolate cake, which I must have made for at least the last thirty years!
An update on the year’s seed sowing. The cornflowers that I started last September are ready to be planted out, which I will do this weekend along with the first broad beans. Hopefully we’ll have a crop of both come May.
Then in the veg trug I have teeny tiny antirrhinum seedlings, which germinated fine but then have sulked for the last six weeks or so and refuse to get any bigger. I’ve given them a weak seaweed feed and will leave them be a little longer, to see if warmer weather can coax them out of their funk. The sweetpeas are happily in the cold frame, ready to go into large, deep pots come April.
Inside, in the sun room, I have started off the hardy annual veg and flowers: kales, PSB, some lettuces, calendula, parsley, chard, spinach. There’s also plugs of sweet William and various frilly things for pots that I’m growing on ready for summer, which will have to stay put until the weather warms up. Also the dahlias are potted up, protected from the weather and the slugs. I say that, but actually I have evicted several gastropods from the house over the last few weeks, so they may still succumb.
Then in April I’ll start off the half-hardy annuals – the runner beans, sunflowers, courgettes, that kind of thing. Experience tells me not to go too early with these, as the allotment just isn’t warm enough for them until mid-May at the earliest.
It’s said that if March comes in like a lion then she’s out like a lamb – climate change may put an end to that but I do feel confident that the temperature will perk up over the next couple of weeks. Then it will be a case of rush rush rush to get the seeds sown, the plugs coaxed to life, the beds prepared for planting out. A new season of life is upon us.
Also this month:
Harvesting: Tulips and very few edibles – chard and the odd sprig of rosemary.
Allotment notes: Allotment perennials are emerging, including rhubarb, euphorbia, peony, fennel, and the soft fruit are all flowering. Many jobs to be done including clearing plastic (and all the accumulated crap) off the plots, strumming the grass, giving it all a good weed, and so on.
Garden notes: Narcissi tete-a-tete in pots and the hellebores are glorious. Garden full of allium and tulip foliage, ready to burst. Forsythia and skimmia have given a good display, and over-winter the vinca has grown rampant. Seedlings of what might be a type of buttercup are everywhere.
Cooking and eating: Easter cake; salmon & asparagus tart; chocolate crispy cakes; first strawberries of the year; Welsh cakes. Lovely Sunday lunch at the Crown at Woolhope including a memorable chocolate sponge with chocolate custard.
Also: Weekend in Hay on Wye; London for the Chanel show at the V&A; brutal exam for RHS course (I passed).